Ghosts of the Past
by poestheblackcat
Summary: Dark Angel/Supernatural crossover. Seattle 2022. Alec runs into Ben's ghost, or is he simply going crazy like his twin? Alec discovers the world of ghost hunting via supernatural hunters Sam and Dean Winchester.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I love _Dark Angel _and _Supernatural_, especially since Jensen Ackles is/was in both. (Just had to announce that over the World Wide Web). I also love crossover fanfiction of the two shows, but good ones are rare, and a thing that really bugs me is that most of them don't factor in the time difference (2019-2021 and 2005-2008, respectively). If you haven't seen both seasons of DA or up to the season 3 finale of SPN, don't read this unless you want some pretty big spoilers. If you don't mind that, all you really have to know in order to not be confused is that Jensen Ackles played Max's Transgenic serial killer brother Ben (X5-493) in Season 1 of DA and came back as his clone Alec (X5-494) in Season 2. He then went on to play demon hunter Dean in SPN a few years later.

Sam and Dean don't appear until the end of Chapter 3, so keep reading.

This is my first really serious fanfic so please be nice! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own anything!! Not even the DVDs for either show. I had to borrow them. :(

**Ghosts of the Past**

**Chapter 1**

_Seattle, Washington_

_March 2022_

Alec crept past the musty wooden crates checking left and right, all of his Transgenic senses fully alert. He hoped he hadn't been followed into the abandoned warehouse by the "bad guys" he'd just ripped off. His heightened sight and hearing told him he hadn't, and as for smell, he couldn't detect anything but fertilizer, _eww_, but Alec just couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

As he snuck around a corner, he caught a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye. Whirling around into a fighting stance, he stared in confusion at what he saw. But only for a moment. Then he chuckled and shook his head at himself for being so paranoid, for in front of him was a mirror and the movement he had seen was himself reflected in it.

But then if it was only his reflection, then what had put all his senses on edge—what the hell!

_Flickering_ behind him in the mirror was another version of himself; a paler and _transparent_ version of himself.

Alec quickly turned to see if the image was real. The other him looked at him with sad eyes. Alec stared and gasped. His breath blew out in a puff of white.

'_Holy shit!' _he thought,_ 'I'm going crazy, crazy like Ben. No, no, I can't be. Manticore made sure it wasn't genetic… didn't they? Wait a minute, maybe it is Ben. No, hell no. He's dead. Ghost maybe? But ghosts aren't real, I'm just seeing things. Shit, that's bad too…why is it so cold…'_

"N-no. Who are you?" he stuttered. "What are you? Are you real?"

The _ghost_ tilted its head as if listening for something. It frowned and opened its mouth to speak. "I'm a soldier," it said, "And I have to kill you."

Its voice was eerily calm and quiet but its face was troubled. Alec looked into its eyes and saw a look there that he had felt on himself before. A look of utter despair and loneliness. But Alec also saw within the hazel-green depths something he himself had never experienced. He saw the insanity driving this being on as it—he—moved towards him.

'_Oh shit! He's going to kill me. I don't want to die, especially at hands of a psycho killer ghost who looks like me…only less handsome.'_

Alec backed away but tripped over something in his haste and as the ghost—_Ben?_—charged towards him, his hand brushed against something smooth and cold that clattered when he touched it. A pipe. He grabbed it and swung just as the ghost reached out its hand—

—and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

Alec let out a shuddering breath. '_Whoa. What. The hell. Was. That.' _He kept a firm hold on the rusty pipe just in case the ghost—'_huh, a ghost'_—came back.

It was warmer now, he noticed. '_I guess I better head home, maybe get my head checked out. No. Drink first. Make that plural. Drinks. Yeah, that sounds good.'_

Alec crept cautiously out of the building and hightailed it back to Terminal City.

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	2. Chapter 2

AN: Wheeee! My first review. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! If I did, _Dark Angel_ would still be on.

**Chapter 2**

After delivering the cigars to Mole—'_I got chased into a smelly old warehouse by a couple of guys from the Cuban mob and had a Twilight Zone experience just for a box of cigars…This is the last time I do any more favors for the old lizard'_—Alec trudged up to the apartment he shared with Joshua.

The dog-man was painting, as usual. He glanced up as Alec strode in. "Hey Alec."

Alec grinned. "Hey Big Fella. How's it going?" He walked over to look at what Joshua was working on.

Joshua smiled at his friend. "Good. Went to nursery today."

Alec glanced up at him. "Yeah? How have all the little rugrats been lately? I haven't stopped by to see 'em in a while," he said absently.

Joshua eyed the X5 thoughtfully, but nodded. "Fine. Still sleep lots. Ronnie said first word today." He grinned. "'Mama'."

Alec was trying to keep his mind on the conversation, and managed to muster up an enthusiastic response. "Really? I bet Gem's real proud of that."

"Yeah."

Alec wandered into the kitchen and got the bottle of scotch from the cupboard that contained "Alec's stuff." He poured himself a glass. Then, he settled himself on the worn couch and turned on the TV. He didn't really watch the flickering images on the screen, though. He thought about what had happened in that warehouse. Did it really happen? If it hadn't then that meant he was crazy, didn't it? Maybe that was how Ben's insanity had started. If it had—Alec shook his head. No way. Ghosts aren't real…are they?

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Joshua watched his friend brooding on the couch. He had seemed a little off when he'd come into the apartment. Joshua wondered if it was something Max had said. Again. He loved Max, he really did, but he could not understand how Little Fella could not see how much she hurt her smart-alecky friend sometimes. He had tried to explain to her that Alec was not as impervious to harm as he seemed to be on the outside, but that he was just as sensitive to hurts—especially those Max doled out—as everyone else, if not more, inside. Apparently, Max still didn't get it.

Just then the other subject of Joshua's thoughts walked in through the door. Without knocking, but then Transgenics rarely did.

"Hey Little Fella," he greeted.

Max's face lit up in a genuine smile. "Hey Big Fella."

Alec looked up and managed to smile something that looked more like a grimace. "Hey Max."

Max stopped in front of Alec and crossed her arms. "Where've you been, Alec? I was looking for you," she huffed.

Alec shifted on the sofa so Max could sit down. "Out. I scored Mole some more of his cigars."

Max snorted appreciatively. "Yeah, I noticed he was getting kinda cranky. Crankier than usual anyways."

Alec smirked. "Anything to keep Mole from going full-out Godzilla on our asses, right Maxie?" he drawled.

Max smacked his arm. "Don't call me Maxie!" she growled, more in play than in anger.

'_Did Ben call you "Maxie"? Is that why you don't like me calling you that?'_ Alec thought. Whoa, where did that thought come from?

Alec cleared his throat. "S-so you said you were looking for me?" He winced. Did he just stutter? Max was starting to look at him strangely. He would have to head her off before she decided he needed to "talk" about what was bothering him. Max and her "talks." He really didn't need to deal with _that_ right now.

Max sobered immediately. "Yeah. There's been an incident in the city that I need to talk to you about."

Alec raised his eyebrows, relieved at the distraction away from his own problem. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

Max shifted uneasily and glanced around at Joshua then back at Alec. She seemed reluctant to tell them. Avoiding his eyes, she said, "A young man was found killed today in the woods. Neck broken. Barcode."

Shit. This was bad. Alec looked at Joshua to see that his friend had the same uh-oh look as he did on his face.

"Familiars?"

"No." If Alec didn't know better he would have thought that she was going to cry. But that was impossible. Tough, bitchy Max rarely cried. This must have really shaken her up. She continued, "All his teeth were pulled out. There's a Catholic priest reported missing from sector seven. They think the body might be his."

Oh. _Oh._ Alec's eyes widened in comprehension."That's Ben's MO. You think this has something to do with Ben?"

Max was looking at him with an expression in her eyes that Alec couldn't decipher. Her eyes were shining more than usual but other than that, she was doing a pretty good job hiding her emotions. There's Manticore for ya.

"Ben's dead, Alec. He was dead when I left him. I killed him, I snapped his neck. It couldn't have been him." A tear betrayed her impassive façade and trickled down her cheek. "And that's not all," she said as she wiped the single tear away. "Another priest's been kidnapped from the city."

Alec frowned. "So he's the next victim?"

Max nodded. "Probably."

"Who's Ben?"

The two X5s turned to look at Joshua. They'd become so engrossed in the bad news that they had forgotten he was there and that he didn't know about Ben. Max glanced at Alec, unsure whether to tell their friend everything.

Alec met her gaze. "I think you should tell him. I mean, he's already heard what we've said so far, and of all the people we know, he's the most likely to understand what you had to do." '_He'd had to kill his brother Isaac to keep him from hurting people,' _ran through both of their minds.

Max swallowed before turning back to Joshua. "Ben was in my unit," she began in a flat voice. "We escaped together, but lost track of each other once we got out. Two years ago, an informant told Logan that there was a body found in the woods outside of the city. Young male, barcode."

Max swallowed convulsively. "His neck was twisted and all his teeth were pulled out. I recognized the barcode. So I went to pay my respects and realized then that it wasn't Ben and that it was him who killed the guy." She paused for a moment to attempt to compose herself.

She took a breath before continuing. "Logan found out that there were more murders matching this one, not just in Seattle, but in Chicago and Miami, and other places, too. To make a long story short, I tracked him down right before he was going to kill the priest. While we were fighting, Manticore was tracking him, too. I'd injured him, so there was no way we could both make it out of there. So he—he asked me to kill him…and I did. I asked him to tell me the story he always told us about the Good Place. And then I broke his neck. I had to. I had to stop him. He was killing people, and he didn't want to go back to Manticore. He knew what they'd do to him."

Max covered her face to try to keep from crying but the tears came anyway. Alec and Joshua held her trembling body in their arms, like how Max and Alec had when Annie was killed. "They would have done to him what they ended up doing to Alec," she whispered. "Only worse." Alec's arms tightened and he buried his face in her hair.

Joshua frowned in confusion. "What they did to Alec? Why Alec?"

This time it was Alec who spoke. His voice was rough and he had to clear his throat before speaking. "Ben was my twin. My genetic clone. 493. They thought the insanity might be genetic. Turns out, it's not." He sighed. "Or maybe it is, they just couldn't dig it out then or something." This last part was said quietly, more to himself than his companions. Max and Joshua both looked up quickly.

"What's that supposed to mean? 'Maybe it is,'" Max demanded. "Alec."

He shook his head. "Nothing." They hadn't been meant to hear that. His control was slipping. He needed to get away.

"Something wrong with Medium Fella. Joshua felt when came home. Not right." Joshua spoke gently, knowing that this was more likely to get results than Max's aggression.

"'Not right' is right," Alec said with a bitter laugh. Shit. He hung his head. He'd really said enough this time. Maybe it was the scotch. Maybe his Transgenic inability to get drunk was finally letting up.

Max put a gentle hand on his arm. "Alec. You can tell us, you know? Is something bothering you? Remember I told you I'd always be here if you wanted to talk? I—" Alec stopped her by holding his hand up.

"I'm fine Max. I just…don't worry about me. I'm always alright, remember?" He shot them a wry smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I guess I'm just a little tired, that's all, and then there was the news about that guy that was killed. Shook me up a little." Weak lie. He mentally smacked himself upside the head, Max-style. What happened to all his super-duper Manticore skills?

"No Max right. Something bothering Alec," Joshua interrupted his self-criticizing. He could see now that whatever was bothering his friend did not have anything to do with Max as he originally thought. However, his agitation had increased with what Max had said about Ben. "Need to tell friends. Max and Joshua Alec's friends." He sought out Alec's eyes and held them in a kindly gaze.

Alec wavered. He sighed and unconsciously rubbed his barcode with his hand. He really wanted to tell them, he really did, but he was afraid of how they would react. Especially Max. She and Josh had both had brothers they'd been forced to kill when they'd gone crazy and killed people. He didn't want them to have to do it for him. Not ever. He wouldn't, couldn't, tell them.

So he did what he did best; he deflected the conversation away from himself. "Don't we need to figure out what to do about that Ordinary? He was an Ordinary, right, not a Transgenic who had decided to be a servant of God or whatever? And that other guy who disappeared? We need to find him before he gets killed." That's right. Steer the conversation away from the uncomfortable mushy stuff.

Max huffed in exasperation. "Alec, do I need to beat it out of you? Come on, you obviously need to talk. Like Joshua said, we're your friends. We're here to help you." She had started out in a harsh tone, but her voice had softened into the gentle quality that matched her eyes and the calming touch on his arm. Joshua was also looking at him with those big puppy dog eyes that he had never really been able to resist.

Alec groaned. He took a sip of his scotch before speaking. A looooong sip. "Fine. If the both of you are going to gang up on me like that." He paused, hoping his friends wouldn't react badly to what he was going to say next. He rubbed his face tiredly with the open palm of his hand. "I…I think I might be going crazy. I saw something today, something I shouldn't have seen, something I know couldn't have been real, but I saw it, or at least I think I did, and I think I'm going crazy but I—"

Here he cut off; he couldn't breathe—oh god, he couldn't breathe. Eyes wide open, panicking, palms sweaty, hands tightly clenching the material of his pants, he was vaguely aware of his friends calling his name, telling him to calm down, to breathe. He felt Max's hand on his arm gripping it so hard he felt the tears come. Joshua's on his shoulders as well. Following their touch, he closed his eyes and managed to calm down slightly, mentally urging his heart rate and breathing to slow.

Taking a few minutes to recover, he opened his mouth to speak. "Sorry about that, guys." '_Damn. That had sounded so weak…and breathy.'_ "I just wanna go to bed right now." Alec paused. He noticed that Max's hand was still on his arm, anchoring him. "I promise I'll tell you what's going on later."

Max frowned at him with a concerned look on her face. "Alright. It's late," she said quietly. "But we _will_ talk in the morning." Her expression was stern.

"Yes ma'am," Alec saluted, earning himself a light punch in the arm, more like a pat, really. "Yes, Maxie, then," he smirked. Or tried to, anyway.

She rolled her eyes at that and said, "Goodnight, ya ass."

He snorted as he walked—'_Ha! More like_ _staggering…Shut up'_—towards his room. "G'night, Big Fella."

"Night, Medium Fella."

Two pairs of worried eyes followed their friend as he left the room. "He's really got to stop with that 'I'm always alright' routine. It's getting old. He's going to end up—"

"Hurting himself?" Joshua finished for Max.

She pursed her lips in a thoughtful expression. "No, doing something stupid. And what do you think he meant about seeing things? And what was up with that panic attack just now?"

Joshua sighed. "Don't know but talk in morning. Promised." He nodded sagely. "Can't push. Will only hide more inside. Talk when ready."

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AN: Ronnie is Gem's daughter, named after Normal, whose real name is Reagan Ronald.

Well, what do you think?


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thank you so much for your support! 6 Reviews! Squeal!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Do I have to keep writing this? Fine. "I own nothing" to the power of however many chapters I plan on posting. Happy? That should last me the whole rest of the story.

**Chapter 3**

Alec didn't sleep that night. At 6:00 AM he heard the front door creak open and the sound of soft footsteps. Max. Then he heard some shuffling coming from Joshua's room. Guess he couldn't sleep either. Alec groaned into his pillow and rolled over. Might as well get up and get the interrogation over with. He could handle it.

Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, he reflected on what good friends he had. This time two years ago he would never have thought that he would ever have such great friends as Max and Joshua. Or even friends altogether, for that matter. Camaraderie was not encouraged at Manticore. Competition was, though. Alec scowled. And just look where competition got him. Top Manticore soldier his ass. Didn't keep him out of Psy-Ops when he messed up or when his twin did. Ben. He'd thought all night about Brother Ben. Huh. Thoughts about a guy keeping him up all night. Never thought that'd ever happen either.

Gathering the courage to confront his friends, he pulled on a black shirt (never gray; he hated the color) and sweats and padded out into the small kitchen where Max was making coffee and Joshua was sitting munching on Little Debbie cakes.

Two pairs of concerned eyes snapped up as he strode in and grabbed a mug. "Coffee almost ready yet?"

"Good morning to you, too, sunshine," Max drawled back. "Bags under your eyes a new look? Gotta say, it doesn't become you."

Alec glared at her. But before he could think of anything to retort back with, Joshua interfered. "Alec ready to talk now?"

Alec sighed, running a hand through his dark blond hair. It was getting long. He'd need a haircut soon. "No," he whined, "but there's no getting away from it, is there?"

Max yanked out a chair. "Nope. Sit. Talk."

Alec smirked. "Gee, Maxie. You always did have a way with words. I get all tingly when you take control like that."

"Alec. Stop stalling." Alec knew that when she had that look, the serious one, he'd better do what she said or face the consequences.

Sighing, he said, "Okay. Coffee first." He plopped down in a chair.

Max poured out a piping hot mug of the black beverage for Alec and herself and sat down, tucking back a strand of dark hair that had come loose from the low ponytail to its proper place behind her ear. Joshua put down his glass of milk and looked up with interest. "Now talk," she demanded.

Alec stared at the cracked mug in his hands and kept his eyes there as he talked. "You know I went to get cigars for Mole yesterday? The guys I got them from weren't happy with our arrangements, so I split…with the cigars, obviously." He smirked. "Cuban mob guys are twelve-year-old schoolgirls compared to a cranky cigar-less Mole. So I ducked into this abandoned warehouse or factory or whatever to wait it out, try to lose them." He stopped. He really didn't want to keep going.

"What next?" came softly from Joshua, who had stopped eating completely concentrate solely on his friend.

Alec took a deep breath and nodded. "I could sense that I was being watched. Didn't feel like the mob guys, though. Couldn't see anything or hear anything out of the ordinary. I just _felt_ something, you know?" He shrugged. "So I snuck around a little, saw some movement that turned out to be me in a mirror. And then I saw—" He stopped and frowned.

"What did you see?" Softly from Max. She had a curious look on her face.

Frightened green eyes rose to meet warm brown ones. "I saw…I saw me, only not the me in the mirror. A second me, in different clothes, different hair. Just standing there, real still, except for this _flickering_ thing he was doing. And he was really pale." Alec saw the confusion in Max's eyes. "I know, weird, right?"

"Ben? You think it was his _ghost_ or something?" Her voice was incredulous. "Alec, ghosts aren't real. Maybe you were hallucinating. Are you coming down with something?"

Alec slammed his mug down, brown liquid sloshing out over the sides, but he didn't care. He burst out, "No! I know it's crazy. You think I don't know that? That's why I think I'm going psycho and freaking out. I mean, seeing my dead _schitzo_ twin brother who I've never met would qualify as crazy right? Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that he said he was going to kill me." He propped his forehead on his fist and groaned in frustration.

"Alec stressed now. Terminal City busy. Lots work. Maybe need rest?" Joshua tried to calm his friend down.

"Yeah, maybe you're stressed out. I have been piling a lot on you lately," Max agreed. "Know what? We should go see Dr. Carr. He'll probably be able to tell us if something's wrong, right?"

Alec hesitated. Did he really want some guy telling him he was going crazy? Doctors still gave him the creeps, too, but the worried looks Max and Joshua were wearing were enough to make up his mind. "Yeah. Okay. Fine. Call him."

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"Well, that was conclusive." Alec ran his hands through his hair again. That was getting to be a habit when he was stressed. He found himself doing it a lot nowadays.

Max scowled, tossing her long hair behind her shoulder and putting her hands in the pockets of the leather jacket. It was a surprisingly chilly night, especially in this alley. She shivered as a cold burst of air blew at them from the street. "Shut up, Alec." The streetlamp nearby buzzed and flickered.

They were walking home down a dark alley, on their way home from a visit to Dr. Carr. Alec was walking slightly sideways so he could watch Max's face as they talked. "Come on, Max. The guy basically told us to give him a call if I start hallucinating again. Yeah. Like that was sooooo helpful."

Max lectured automatically, "It was really nice of him to fit us into his schedule. He could have just gone home, you know, but he stayed after hours to hear you whine and bitch about seeing things." Not that she'd ever show it, but Max was really worried about Alec. And she agreed with him that Carr's _un-_diagnosis had been a disappointment. Not that she'd ever tell Smart-Alec. She shivered again. It was cold.

"Whine and bitch? You're the one who wanted me to—" Alec choked and stared past her. He had that look again. That panicked look he had last night and this morning when he was telling her and Joshua about what he thought he'd seen. She turned around and gasped.

"Please tell me you can see him, too." Alec's voice sounded odd.

Max could see the pale _transparent_ figure. Ben. "I see him."

She was cut off before she could say anything else by a pressure at her throat that shoved her against the brick wall of the alley, hitting her head so hard she saw stars. Max saw the same happening to Alec before she was aware that the pressure was turning into squeezing, very hard squeezing. She couldn't breathe and there was nothing to grasp at, no way to tear the cold fingers from her throat.

"Hey Maxie. Long time no see." Ben's voice was eerily calm. Turning to his look-alike—his very alive-and-kicking-very-hard-against-the-brick-wall counterpart—the pale specter said, "And as for you, you ran away before we could talk more, and I could finish my mission."

"Your…mission?" Alec managed to gasp. Shit. He was starting to see black dots and swirly green…

"Hey Casper! Let them go! No? Alright you asked for it!" Then the pressure eased and he slid down. He heard a thud, a shout of "Dean!" and a loud bang. Shotgun, Alec's foggy mind registered. Sawed off. Manufactured in the 1980s, probably.

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Sam and Dean Winchester had been at a bar to score some more cash and were now in their 1967 Chevy Impala on their way to find another sleazy, run-down motel to spend the night in. And do research, in Sam's case. Dean had refused to get rid of his gas-guzzling "baby" even after inflation had raised the price of gas to beyond soaring. Think $4.50 a gallon is expensive? $5.00 gas is apocalyptic? Puh-lease. The Pulse (reputed among those in the know to have been caused by a demon-powered gremlin) had really messed things up, making travel and such for work very difficult. But they managed, with a little less traveling, and some help from old friends and some new enemies. (Note to anyone reading this: Siphoning gas from the car of a hit man is not a very bright idea, as Sam frequently likes to remind Dean.)

So as mentioned above, they were on their way to find somewhere to sleep when Sam spotted something strange out of the window. "Dean! Pull over! I think I saw somebody in trouble in that alley over there!"

Dean complied, with some squealing from the tires of his baby as he braked to a stop ("Sorry baby"), and pulling out his .45 ran over to the alley where his brother was already headed.

Sam turned back. "Ghost. We need the salt guns."

Dean nodded. "We better hurry then."

After grabbing the salt guns from the trunk, they ran back to the alley where the ghost, a male from the looks of it, had a man and a woman against the wall by their throats. Although they were struggling hard, their movements were starting to look sluggish.

Cocking his shotgun, Dean shouted, "Hey Casper! Let them go!" Seeing the ghost ignore him, he then said, "No? Alright you asked for it!" before the ghost did turn around, letting go of both his victims and moving his arm towards Dean in a sweeping motion. Dean flew through the air and with a grunt, hit the brick wall hard.

"Dean!" Sam shot at the ghost which dispersed before rushing over to his fallen brother. Dean was lying in a crumpled heap at the base of the wall and wasn't getting up or stirring. Crap. "You know, bro, we're getting too old for this stuff." Checking his brother over for bumps and injuries, especially his head, Sam was vaguely conscious of coughing and murmurings coming from the couple they had just saved.

"Okay. So ghosts are real, right? That whole thing was not just in my head?" the male rasped.

"No. That was Ben all right. The tall guy killed him…again." The girl seemed shaken but the young man seemed a little relieved. And his voice sounded familiar. Sam would think about that later, though, after making sure Dean was okay.

"Maybe we should check to see if they're all right." Steps headed in their direction. Then "Holy shit! Not this guy, too?!"

Sam stood and turned around. And came face to face with Dean. A twenty years younger version of Dean.

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AN: Interested? Should I keep posting? I know, slightly older Sam and Dean, but still as hot as they've ever been, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing every single chapter, tylee17! Here's your new one.

**Chapter 4**

Sam allowed himself a "What the hell!" before recovering and pointing the shotgun at the…shapeshifter.

"Whoa. Okay." The thing put his, no, _its_ hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. Sam was too preoccupied gaping at the familiar features barely visible in the light coming from the street to notice the girl moving quickly to his left. With a swift movement, she disarmed him with ease.

"So, what is he? X3? I thought X5s were the first ones who looked normal. Nah, he looks waaay older than any X-series would. What do you think, Max?" The younger version of Dean smirked and put his hands down while turning to his companion.

"What are you talking about? Those are types of Transgenics. We're not Transgenics!" Sam really wished he had silver bullets in his gun right now, instead of regular ones.

"Then why does _he_ look like _him_?" the dark-haired girl, Max, said, pointing at the still form of Dean then at young-Dean.

"Mmmmh." All three of their attentions turned to Dean. Sam glared at the others and kept an eye on them while crouching down next to his brother. His still too long but now slightly graying hair dipped into his eyes. "Hey Dean. Dean. Open your eyes for me, bro." Green slits appeared. "That's it. A little more, Dean."

Dean grimaced. "Smm?"

"Yeah, it's me. I'm here." Sam tapped his brother's cheeks.

Dean's eyes fluttered open and a frown furrowed his brow. "You 'k?"

"Yeah, doofus. You're the one who took a header into a brick wall. Idiot." Sam grinned in relief. "Think you can get up?"

Dean blinked. "Shuddup, Sammy." He grunted as he shifted himself into a sitting position with Sam's help. "Kids okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

Wait a minute. That voice. Dean's head shot up, making him regret the sudden movement. His jaw dropped. Crap. "I think I hit my head a little harder than I thought, Sammy," he groaned.

Sam helped his brother stand. "No, he's real all right. I think he might be one of those Transgenics. They thought you were one."

"'We' are standing right here and can hear you very clearly. If you're saying you're not Transgenics then we want to see the backs of your necks, just to make sure." Max seemed to be pretty bossy.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Dean wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at the shapely brunette and grinned.

Max groaned and rolled her eyes. Not this one, too. Sighing, she turned around and lifted up her long brown hair. The black lines it had hidden from view marked her as a Transgenic. Turning back, she said, "Happy? Your turn."

"Nope. Wanna see his, too," Dean replied, glancing at the young man.

Still smirking, he said, "I don't usually do this on the first date, ya know."

Max apparently did not have a whole lot of patience. "Alec, just show him, so we can get out of this alley. It's not safe to stay in one place for so long."

Alec rolled his eyes and pulled down the back of his collar as he turned, exposing the barcode tattoo, barely visible in the dim light.

Sam and Dean gaped. "Holy shit," they said in unison.

After a moment Dean let out a little laugh. "Guess they knew what they were doin', huh. 'Cause they chose to clone the handsome one, not the geeky one."

Sam glared at Dean. "This isn't funny. You two," he said, pointing at the Transgenics. "We need to go somewhere private to talk. You know something about that ghost. You knew him, didn't you?" He frowned as something surfaced in his mind. "He looked just like you and my brother."

Alec shrugged and shot a glance at Max before speaking. "Correction, Max knew him. I didn't. He was just my genetic clone," he said in a nonchalant manner. "And you're right about finding somewhere private to talk because I don't feel like advertising what I really am, and besides, it looks like your buddy there isn't doing so well." He was right. Dean had paled considerably and was starting to sway.

"Whoa." Sam caught Dean as he slumped down. Looking at the two Transgenics, he said, "You know somewhere we can go? We've got some stuff that will protect you from spirits so that ghost that was after you won't be able to get in."

Max scrunched up her brow in confusion. "Wait a minute. I thought you killed him. You know, with the whole shooting him with this shotgun dealio." She held up the saltgun she'd confiscated from Sam.

Sam shook his head, heaving Dean up as he did so. Oof. Too many cheeseburgers Dean."No, I just shot him with rock salt. Ghosts really don't like salt. He's gone for now, though."

"Oh. That's what's in this gun? Salt? Huh. Okay." Max looked at Alec as she said, "We've got a friend with some extra room who'll probably let you crash at his place."

Alec raised a brow. "Logan?"

Max nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay. I'll need directions." Supporting Dean, Sam started to lead the way to the car.

Alec hurried after him. "Hey Sam. So say I saw this ghost before and I swung a pipe at him and he disappeared. Why would that have happened? I mean, there wasn't any salt nearby or anything." He interrupted himself. "Wow! Is this your car? Nice." Alec examined the shining black muscle car with interest.

Sam answered automatically. "It's Dean's. 1967 Chevy Impala. About the pipe, I would say that it was probably made out of iron. Ghosts don't like that either, but it has to be pure. Not mixed with anything. To get rid of the ghost completely, you need to salt and burn its bones." Sam hefted his unconscious brother into the front passenger seat. "So Max and Alec, right? Get in the car."

Alec glanced at Max. "You think it's safe? These guys seem okay, right? A little crazy, maybe, but okay."

Max nodded. "Neither of them has a bar code. I saw the back of their necks when they were bending over. Totally bare. Which means we could take them on if we really need to, and besides, they seem to know what they're talking about."

Arriving at their decision, they shrugged and got in the back seat without any more ado.

They drove in silence for a while, Dean's music providing enough of a distraction and the blurred light from the street reflecting off the glistening sides of the car, but Alec could never keep his mouth shut for long.

"So do you guys do this for a living or something, 'cause the pay's gotta by pretty lousy, considering most people don't believe in ghosts."

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Dean had regained consciousness in the car.

"I'm good, Sam. Lay off."

Sam hovered around his big brother. "Dean, you could be concussed. You passed out, for chrissakes. Let me help you."

Dean waved him off. "No, back off, Sasquatch. I'm a Winchester. I think I can handle getting out of the car _by myself_. I've been doing it since I was three. Besides, I'm fine!"

Alec chuckled as Sam muttered something about stubborn jackass brothers while keeping within arms reach of the older man.

"Now we know where you got the 'I'm always alright' syndrome from," Max whispered to Alec.

"You think we're really related? Like I was cloned from him or something? That's kind of a creepy thought. Does that make me a Winchester? Like the gun?" Alec considered the idea, cocking his head to the side and pursing his lips. "Cool."

Max shook her head with a thoughtful expression. "It's not that weird. Apparently, I was inspired by Lydecker's dead wife. A reward for good behavior or something."

Alec guffawed. "Lydecker's _dead_ wife? Forget Dean. Now that's creepy." Alec got a smack in the back of his head for that. He didn't mind, since he knew now that he wasn't seeing things that aren't really there. Life was good.

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AN: I'm kinda proud of this chapter. Alec and Dean have some snarky things to say that I think are in character, Max is exasperated and impatient, and Sam's properly worried as usual. I know, poor Sammy comes off as kind of mean at first, but he's just apprehensive of things that seem even remotely supernatural, aka something looking like your brother at age 22. What do you think of Oldchesters (hehe new word?) interacting with our favorite Transgenics? Hopefully still hot.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I guess I forgot to say this. The Transgenic thing has been all over the news, so Sam and Dean do know about them. And I guess I should have said that in my world, hunters have already checked out the "lizard man" and "dog man" stories when they first came out in "New World Weekly" and other tabloids and concluded that they were not supernatural. Thanks for pointing it out.

Oh yeah, this fic is probably going to have MA undertones. Either that or neutral, no lovey-dovey stuff. Sorry ML fans. But no Logan-bashing, so don't stop reading.

**Chapter 5**

The four of them, the two Transgenics and the two demon hunters, filed up the rickety stairs of Logan's house. People in the know had taken to calling it Logan's even though it was still technically Joshua's. Max pushed open the door and let herself in. The others followed suit.

"Hey Logan. You in?"

A thirty-something man with a day's worth of blond stubble appeared. "Yeah. Hey Max. Alec…Oh."

Logan blinked, taking in the man wearing a weathered leather jacket layered over two shirts, the years etched in to the otherwise handsome and familiar face, hair slightly silver at the temples. And blinked again taking in the taller figure behind him with the tired but boyish face and prematurely graying hair. The Winchesters fidgeted under his scrutiny.

Max broke the uncomfortable silence. "This is Sam and Dean. They saved our lives just now and they needed a place to stay, so I told them they could probably crash here, if you don't mind. They can't spend too long in TC, you know, 'cause of the toxins. And Dean's hurt."

The elder Winchester muttered. "It ain't that bad."

Logan broke out of his stupor. "Yeah," he said, picking up his jaw from where it had fallen. "Yeah, sure you can stay here. The spare room has a bed already made and there's a cot somewhere that I can dig out." The exoskeleton whirred as he moved to make his guests comfortable.

"Thanks. You don't really have to do this," Sam started.

Logan shook his head. "No, I want to. Besides, if you saved Max and Alec's lives, then you deserve at least a warm bed and hot food."

"Ya had me at 'food'," Dean grinned.

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While Sam patched Dean up in the bathroom, Logan pressed Max and Alec for details on what exactly had happened while setting some water to boil on the stove. When the story was told, the two Transgenics were surprised to find that Logan was not as skeptical of their telling of the incident as they thought he would be. In fact, he completely believed what they said had occurred, ghosts and all.

At this point, Sam and Dean reentered the room and Dean announced that he was suffering only from a _mild_ concussion and a _small _cut on his head, and that he was _fine_, the last part shot at his brother. Sam looked ready to disagree, but kept his mouth shut.

He then proceeded to ask Logan's permission to line the doorway and windows with salt and to carve some symbols in the wood, explaining that it was to keep spirits and various other supernatural evil out, while Dean parked himself down on the couch. Logan had done a fair amount of remodeling and redecorating to add his own touch to Joshua's old home, but to Max and Alec, this would always feel like Joshua's place.

After serving his unexpected visitors cold beers and putting the pasta to cook in the now bubbling water, Logan sat down at his desk and gazed at the elder Winchester with a thoughtful look, taking in the still handsome but weary and scarred face. After about a minute of this, Dean burst out, "Look man, I know I'm pretty, but I don't swing that way."

Alec exploded in laughter, resulting in a scowl from Max, although the corners of her full lips twitched with barely contained mirth. Sam stopped in the middle of pouring salt to look at Logan.

Logan started and stuttered, "Sorry, it's not that. I…do you remember me at all?"

Dean raised his eyebrow. "Ummm…no? Should I?"

"You saved my life, too, right around twenty years ago, here in Seattle, cursed watch. Ring any bells?" Logan looked directly into Dean's eyes.

Max stared. "Wait, you know him? Is that why you believed us?"

"Twenty years ago. That would have been when I was at school, right, Dean? So I wasn't around," Sam put in from the side.

Dean had a thoughtful look on his face, as if remembering something he hadn't thought of for years. "2002. The Cales. Super rich. Old family and all that shit. That watch was solid gold or something. Yeah, I remember you. Kinda scrawny and liked reading, computer whiz. Reminded me of Sammy when he was that age. Heh." Looking around at the equipment, "So," he remarked, lips quirking into a smile, "you're still into computers, huh?"

Logan glanced around at his roomful of electronics and smiled. "Yeah. I'm a cyber-journalist now. You know," he smiled, looking at Dean over the silver frames of his glasses, "you're the one who inspired me to become a reporter in the first place."

At this statement, everyone's eyebrows shot up. Sam snorted. "I'm sorry. Dean conned you into thinking he was a reporter and made you want to be one when you grew up?"

"Shut up, Sammy. I was 23. I looked too young to pass for a Fed and we needed info, so what better way to get it than to pose as a reporter? I mean, people tell you all sorts of shit 'cause they want to get their name in print. 'Specially the girls." Sam shook his head and went back to putting down the salt lines.

Logan laughed. "Actually, that was one of the reasons I wanted to be a reporter in the first place. People tell you things. Anything you want to know, you try hard enough and they'll tell you."

Alec spoke up from his position leaning against the doorway. "Okay. What I want to know is, if you met Dean-o here when he was around my age, why didn't you say anything when I was pointing a gun at you the first time we met? I mean, you didn't really even look that surprised." He shrugged. "Just wondering. And maybe it's just the cat in me, but I'm curious how the guys at Manticore managed to get a hold of Dean's DNA to make me, 'cause I'm guessing he didn't just pop in to donate."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I was wondering that, too. You got it right that I've never donated anything because we've got to be pretty damn careful in our line of work. And besides, how old are you, kid? Twenty-two?"

Alec thought. "Yeah, I think. Almost twenty-three probably."

Dean gave him a hard look and Sam furrowed his eyebrows. "You don't know how old you are?"

The X5 scoffed. "It's not like birthdays were really big where I grew up."

"Most of us chose our birthdays after we got out," put in Max, from her place standing near Logan, arms crossed and a hard look in her eyes.

Dean glanced over at his brother. "Damn. Makes our childhood seem almost normal, huh, Sammy?"

Sam's lips twitched and he grimaced. "Not really, but at least we had birthdays sometimes."

"Well," Dean went on, "the reason I wanted to know was because at the time you were born—you were born right?" Alec and Max nodded. "'Cause it would be weird of you hatched out of eggs or something—Anyway, I was about, what, twenty? So give a few years for all that messing around with the genes and stuff and you get me at like fourteen, fifteen. Now I know I didn't do any donating of bodily fluids around that time, unless you count with Susie Miller under the bleachers—and _whew_, man, she was something—so how did they get their hands on my freaking DNA?"

"You did spend a fair amount of time in hospitals with the job and all, so I'm guessing that's when and how," Sam mused. "And what did you mean by what you said about pointing a gun at Logan the first time you met?" He directed the latter part at Alec.

Logan answered his question. "He was supposed to kill me, but he didn't. And I didn't say anything about Alec looking like the guy who once saved my life because it would have sounded stupid. I knew for a fact, or so I thought at the time, that that man was dead. I even knew his real name, Dean Winchester, since the name he gave me when I met him was obviously a fake one." Curious eyes turned to the Winchesters.

Max broke the uneasy silence. "What do you mean, dead?"

The brothers glanced at each other, seeming to have a silent argument, judging by their facial expressions. Sam seemed to have won, since Dean sighed and began. "I'm guessing the thing that was all over the news in 2005?" Logan nodded his assent. "That was a shapeshifter. I killed it while it was still wearing my face."

Puzzled silence filled the room. Raising her eyebrows, Max said, "Okay, what's a shapeshifter?"

"It's a creature that can change its appearance to look like anyone," Sam answered in a matter-of-fact tone. By this time, he had finished with the salt and protection sigils and moved over to sit beside Dean.

Alec grinned. "Kinda like that one hot chick in that pre-Pulse movie. _X-Men_."

"Yeah. Exactly. 'Cept the only way you can kill one is with a silver bullet, right through the heart." Dean's face took on a dreamy smirk that soon appeared identically on Alec's with his next comment. "Man, Mystique was hot." He whistled. "Nothing but blue bodypaint and those little tattoos. Mmmm." He and Alec were practically salivating.

Both Max and Sam now donned the same look of disgust mixed with exasperation. "Get your brain out of the gutter, Alec." "Upstairs brain, Dean."

Logan broke in impatiently. The brothers were turning out to be a veritable fountain of information on the supernatural. "What about the bank robbery in '07?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. "What, were you stalking me or something? That was a shifter, too. And it wasn't really a robbery. We didn't take anything."

Alec did a double-take. "Wait a minute. You walked into a bank and pretended to rob it to get at some shapeshifter thingy and walked out without any extra cash? Geez, you're even worse than Logan with his morals and stealing only from the bad guys thing. Seriously."

At this point, the timer for the pasta went off and Logan rose to drain and serve the spaghetti. Max automatically moved away to keep from accidentally brushing against him. Noticing this, Sam and Dean raised their eyebrows, but said nothing.

Sam put his research face on. "So, what can you tell us about this spirit, Ben? Was he a Transgenic like you guys? We need to know anything you can think of, anything."

Max sighed. "Yes, he was a Transgenic. He was in my unit. A group of us ran away from Manticore in '09. Ben always used to tell us stories. I don't know how they started, but I remember him just telling them. Maybe it was his way of explaining our world to himself in a way that made sense, I don't know."

She told them about the Blue Lady, the sacrifices involved in pleasing her, how being a good soldier put you in her good graces. Voice trembling slightly, she told them about the Good Place, where when you woke up in the morning you could stay in bed as long as you wanted. She told them about finding out about the people Ben had been killing to prove his faith in the Lady, his insanity, how he'd begged her to kill him in the end, and how she'd done as he'd asked.

The four men listened to the low, melodic voice telling them of a beloved brother. The hum of the computer in the background blended with the distant barking of a dog and the sound of sirens nearby.

Alec had already heard the story a couple times, but it still brought up emotions in him that he'd never felt before his liberation from Manticore. He quietly moved to put his arm around Max, to give her what comfort he could offer. She leaned into his touch, her hair swinging into her face, hiding sad eyes.

Sam thought of the stories his own brother used to tell him at night when they were children. They were tales of adventure and the exploits of characters suspiciously like their small family, with Dean or their father as the hero, but all of them with the subtle undertone of "I'll _always_ protect you."

Dean unconsciously moved closer to Sam when Max spoke of how she had followed her brother's wishes to kill him to save him, thinking of the times when he couldn't bring himself to kill Sam, how he would never be able to, even though he'd promised to do so when it became necessary. He admired the strength emanating from the mysterious young woman sitting before him.

Logan felt an emotion he'd often experienced often over the past year and a half, the ache of not being able to hold Max the way Alec was doing now, to ease away her sorrow with a comforting touch, and the pain of realizing that although Max had never told him the whole story, never told him that Alec was Ben's twin, she had obviously confided in Alec.

As Max finished her narrative, the room fell silent, each occupant lost in his own thoughts.

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AN: Well? Angsty enough? Should I do a follow-up fic about Dean saving Logan from the Cales' cursed watch? Please review. I'm addicted to reviews. I get withdrawal symptoms without them. ;P


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry for the later-than-usual update. I've been busy. Not too much Alec in this chapter, a little more Max and Logan, but mostly Sam and Dean. Hey, Alec got a whole chapter to himself, so I figured the Winchesters needed some time to show off their researching skills. A lot of talk and not too much of action. Sorry.

**Chapter 6**

After a minute or so of collective contemplation, Logan broke the painful silence. Clearing his throat, he announced, "Dinner's ready."

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While they all dined on the meal of spaghetti with savory meatballs and salad that Logan had prepared for them ("dined" being a loose term for Dean wolfing his share down and asking for seconds, and Sam and Max picking at their plates), Sam and Dean told the rest their reason for being in Seattle.

The second priest to be taken was the son of a hunter friend of theirs killed on the job. The young priest gave the brothers shelter in his church whenever they passed through Seattle, and since they had been driving from a completed hunt near the Canadian border to a hunt in Oregon, they had decided to stop by for a visit. They'd been dismayed to learn that Father James Lawrence, known to the Winchesters and other close friends as Jimmy, had gone missing from his church the day before, apparently taken by force, judging from the damage done to the confessional.

After going over the church with an EMF meter, checking for any paranormal "fingerprints," they concluded that the disappearance was indeed their "sort of thing." There was no sulfur, no evidence of that this was supernatural other than that the meter had lit up like a Christmas tree and whined loud enough to earn steely glares from the small number of parishioners scattered throughout the church. Spirit.

They'd questioned the people there, fishing for anything that could help them with their new case. Discovering nothing they didn't already know, the brothers had headed to the police station after seeing the news report on TV about the body of the young priest discovered the day before, reported missing three days before he was found, brutally murdered and mutilated. They'd flashed fake FBI badges to get more information on the case, but of course, they skipped that part in their story.

The "agents" were able to look at the files after a considerable amount of bribing. ("People aren't as cheap as they used to be," Dean griped. "Easier to buy, though.") They found that there had been several more disappearances and subsequent discoveries of the mutilated and tattooed corpses of priests in different cities over the past few years, most of them after 2018 and stopping completely in 2020. Until now.

The recently found body had been the first in a little over two years and searches for the whereabouts of Father Lawrence were being conducted by the police, albeit very inefficiently and half-heartedly. The priest-nappings and killings were attributed to a serial killer. A suspect was caught in April of 2021, but mysteriously broke out of the holding cell soon after his arrest.

After finding all this out, they drove over to a nearby bar so that Dean could hustle up some money playing pool and Sam could look over the notes on the case. Pool was the only source of income the Winchesters had nowadays. Even Sam was known to remark wistfully that he missed the good old days of credit card scams. Credit cards had become obsolete in most places in America after the Pulse. Business these days was all done in cold, hard cash.

What had happened after they left the bar, they all knew. The Winchesters had run straight into the spirit they were looking for and had managed to save its next victims in the process.

"You know the interesting thing about this case is that you don't really fit the spirit's MO, Max," Sam mused. "You're the right age but you're female and you're not a priest. Alec isn't a priest, either," he said, ignoring Alec's snort at this statement, "but he does fit the other aspects of the profile of the victims. Young, relatively fit males in their late teens, early twenties. And he already has a barcode. The profile is therefore also a description of Ben." He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I think Ben was, in a way, killing himself over and over again, sacrificing himself to this Blue Lady. The barcodes he tattooed on the victims were his own, correct?"

Max indicated the affirmative. "Now, after hearing your story, I'm guessing that Ben was…" Sam paused, searching for the most sensitive word, "stopped in 2020 and that Alec was the one who got arrested last year."

Alec nodded. "Damn right, I got arrested." He frowned. "I always get blamed for things I didn't do." _'Things that _he_ did,'_ passed unspoken through Max and Alec's minds. "Maxie busted me out, though." He smirked at her.

"It's Max," she growled.

Dean twitched a fond grin at the pair. "Better give it up, Max. He'll never stop calling you 'Maxie'." Alec beamed smugly from his seat next to the irritated X5. "My brother's been trying to get me to stop calling him 'Sammy' for the past twenty-five years and he still hasn't succeeded. Ain't that right, Sammy?"

Sam refused to rise to the bait. He cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said loudly, "Max doesn't fit the profile, so I'm thinking that the reason the spirit wanted to kill her was because—"

"—because she was the person who caused his death," Logan finished, getting caught up in this weird tale.

Sam nodded, body taut with the excitement of being on a hunt. "Right. So all we have to do now is find where he's keeping Jimmy Lawrence and salt and burn Ben's body. Do you have any idea where to start?"

"Salt and burn the body? So that explains the grave desecration charges on your police record," Logan mused.

Alec arched his eyebrows incredulously at the hacker. "You went through his police record? Dude, you are a stalker."

"Can we get back to this ghost dealio?" Max snapped. "Now, assuming Lydecker took Ben back to Manticore, the scientists there would have…" She gulped and took a deep breath and went on, "cut him open, and tried to figure out what went wrong, so that they could make sure it never happens again. Then I guess they'd salvage what they could for 'spare parts' to avoid wasting millions of dollars worth of government money." The last sentence was spit out with venom.

"No," Alec disagreed grimly. "No, they wouldn't risk contaminating other X5s. They wouldn't use the body for transplants. I'm pretty sure of that. They'd preserve it for studying, though. I assume it all burned up with everything else at the Manticore site when you let us all out, Max. I think even the freezer units were rigged with explosives so no evidence would be left of what they were doing there."

Dean threw his napkin on the table after wiping his mouth and leaned back in his chair. "That's just great. We're right back at square one. How do we kill this sonofabitch if there's no body to burn?" Max scowled at the term used to describe her brother, but said nothing.

"Maybe his spirit's attached to something," Sam said with furrowed brows. "We'll have to find that and burn it."

"What do you think it is?" Logan queried.

Sam sighed before answering. "I honestly don't know. It could be anything, something he used frequently, something with a drop of his blood on it, a hair…"

Dean suddenly barked out a laugh. "Hey Sammy, remember that doll with the spirit's hair? The little girl in the painting? Freaky ass doll. Hell, freaky ass little girl."

Sam smiled wryly at the memory. "Yeah, I remember alright. I was the one whose throat she was trying to slit."

"What I don't understand is why the killings started again." Max stared down at her still almost full plate. "There was nothing for a whole two years until yesterday. Why now?"

Dean leaned forward, trying to catch her eyes. "Sometimes things happen that wake the spirit up, things like the demolition of a place special to them while they were still alive, you know, a disturbance," he said, his tone serious now. "You know of anything like that happening?"

Max met his eyes and swallowed. "The forest where I …where he died. He used to take his victims there and hunt them down. There was a fire there last week."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's a good place to start. When exactly was this fire?"

"Six days ago, I think." Logan looked at Max and Alec, who nodded their agreement. "It was blamed on a couple of teenagers playing with matches."

Doing the calculations in his head, Sam said, "That's about right. The first victim disappeared five days ago, the day right after the fire. I think that's it."

"And he was found yesterday." Dean reiterated. "So the victim is killed three days after the kidnapping."

Sam shook his head no. "Remember, Dean? The body was a day old. The young men are always killed two days after disappearing. When Ben was still alive, that was the rule he usually went by."

Dean pursed his lips. "Right, so we need to find where old Benny boy's keeping Jimmy. Since he was taken today, we have tomorrow and the day after to research."

Sam rose from the table. "That's good, since you need to rest, Dean. Head wounds are tricky. I'm gonna have to keep waking you up every hour, so we better turn in now." He ignored Dean's dramatic eye-rolling.

Logan nodded, rising as well, exoskeleton whirring. "The cot and everything is already set up in the guest room. Just go through that door and it's the second door to your right."

"Thanks," Dean said, standing up and stretching. "Dinner was great. Best spaghetti I've had in years. The salad wasn't bad, either, not too much like the rabbit food Sam's always ordering."

"Vegetables are not only for rabbits, Dean. They're good for you," Sam huffed. "Dean's right about the pasta, though. It was great. Thank you for the dinner and the room," he said smiling, turning to Logan.

Logan shook his head and returned his smile. "Like I said before, it's not a problem. It's the least I can do."

Max and Alec said they also needed to get back to Terminal City. Sam told them to line the doorways and windows of their rooms with salt and showed them how to carve the various wards into the walls as he had here.

Dean handed Alec some salt rounds so that they would be protected if they got attacked on the way home but Max refused her share, saying she didn't like guns. Dean's response to that was a muttered, "Crazy chick, what kind of army girl hates guns?"

Exchanging good nights, the Winchesters retired to the guest room, arguing good-naturedly as they went.

"I get the bed, Sammy."

"Yeah right. I'm taller than you. I won't fit on the cot."

"That's 'cause you're a Sasquatch. I'm older. What I say goes."

"Well, I'm not concussed, which means I'm thinking clearly."

"Right, so since I'm injured, I should get the bed."

"I…Jerk."

"Bitch."

Back at the dining room, Alec smirked. "I like Dean. He's funny."

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Later that night, Logan was awakened by a sudden cry from the guest room.

"Saaaaaam!"

It was guttural and filled with pain. He hastened into the wheelchair by his bed, not wanting to take the time to strap into the exoskeleton.

He wheeled himself into the Winchesters' room as fast as he could. There, Logan found Sam at Dean's bed, clutching his brother's shoulders, calming him. "It's just a dream, Dean. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here."

Noticing Logan, Sam apologized. "Sorry if he woke you. He kind of gets nightmares when he's concussed."

Logan raised his eyebrows. "Are they always this bad?" he asked, eyeing the elder Winchester gasping for breath hunched over in his brother's arms, sweat streaming down his face, which was twisted in a grimace.

Sam made a face. "Sometimes he won't wake up. Look, I'm really sorry—"

"Let the man get back to bed, Sammy," Dean interrupted, his voice raspy. He was still pale from what Logan could see from the weak moonlight that managed to stream into the room through the window, but his breaths were becoming more regular, and now that he was fully awake, he was pushing himself out of the compromising position in Sam's arms.

Logan understood it for the dismissal that it was. Nodding, he said, "Okay. See you guys in the morning."

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AN: An aftereffect of Dean's time in Hell? Ooh! Angstiness galore!

Father Jimmy Lawrence is all mine, and is not related to any hunters we know from the show. His surname is an allusion to the boys' hometown in Kansas.

What do you think Ben's spirit is attached to? Can you guess? If you can, then I suck and I need to think of something harder.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The next morning Dean acted like nothing had happened during the night, and Logan and Sam followed his lead, although the latter kept shooting furtive glances his brother's way every few minutes. Once, Dean caught Logan gaping at him and the younger man was the one to look away embarrassed, as older man's sharp eyes silently dared him to bring the last night's episode up.

After breakfast, the two computer geeks moved off to the computer room where they tried to figure out if there was any pattern to the kidnappings, and to see if they could pinpoint where Ben had been keeping his victims before freeing them to hunt them down. They stopped only to eat lunch and went straight back to work after.

Dean sat at the table jotting notes in a battered and weather-beaten leather notebook that looked like it had seen better days. Lots of much better days. He tapped the tip of his pen on the table as he thought. _Tap tap-tap tap._ Sam glared at the persistent noise, but again, said nothing.

"Is there always a pattern to these things? Supernatural things?" Logan asked with curiosity.

"Usually, there is some kind of pattern to spirits that can travel over a certain area. If it's the kind that can't move around, it'll just go after anyone in its territory," Sam explained, hands waving through the air as he spoke. "Now, obviously, Ben fits this category, although the area he can move around in seems to be a fairly large section of Seattle. So there should be a pattern, and if we can figure it out, we might be able to figure out where he's keeping Jimmy."

"Well, we've mapped out the churches where both Ben's recent victims and victims from when he was still alive were taken from," Logan said, peering at the colored points on the computer screen. "They all seem random to me."

Sam squinted at the monitor. "It sometimes helps if we connect the dots."

Logan pressed some keys and a web of lines appeared. Two heads, one with short blonde hair and the other with shaggy brown, tilted to the side simultaneously.

"See anything?"

Pause. "Do squiggles count?"

Sam turned to his brother. "Dean, get your ass over here. You're better at seeing patterns than I am."

Dean rolled his eyes but complied. After examining the map for a minute, he shook his head. "Sammy, I know I'm no genius, but what happened to you, college boy?"

Sam raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We forgot to ask one question. And according to what Max let us know last night, she can tell us." To Logan, "Call her."

As Logan turned to the phone, Sam asked his brother what question they forgot to ask. "Wait and see, little brother," was the only reply he got.

After several minutes, Logan managed to get Max on the other end. "Hey Max."

"_Hey you."_ She sounded tired._ "You get anything on the you-know-what?"_

"No, but Dean wants to ask you a question."

Max sounded wary. _"What kind of a question?"_

Dean smirked. "Nothing dirty, I swear."

Max sputtered. _"__You put me on speaker?!"_

"Well…I—er," Logan stammered.

Dean took over the conversation. "Look, Max. You know we're looking for where Ben might be keeping Father Lawrence, right? From your story yesterday, you know where he used to put his victims while he was still living. Can you tell us where that was?"

Behind him, Sam muttered, "Oh my god, I am an idiot."

After a pause, Max answered. _"There's an old abandoned factory just outside the city, near the part of the forest that burned down. It was a fertilizer factory, I think. He kept his victims in this small utility closet. Do you think that's it?"_

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Max."

"_We'll meet you there in an hour," _she said authoritatively.

Dean raised his eyebrows. "No, you're not. You two stay where you are and do your job running your little city while Sam and I do our job ganking this ghost. You hear me, Max?" A click was the only answer he got. "Dammit." He grabbed his leather jacket and stormed out the door.

"She might be able to tell us what Ben's spirit is attached to if we find whatever it is there, you know," Sam pointed out, as he followed.

Logan rushed off after the brothers. "I'm coming, too."

"No, you're not," came from Dean, rummaging in the trunk. He poked his head out. "What do you think this is, a game? It's a dangerous gig. We've got a psycho Transgenic serial killer ghost on the loose. You could get hurt. I am not gonna take that risk. It's enough having two marked victims tagging along without you coming with us. I mean, come on, you were in a freaking wheelchair last night."

"Well, you didn't get a whole lot of sleep what with that concussion and _nightmare_ you had," Logan retorted, somewhat relishing the flinch Dean gave. "And my situation is under control. I'm walking now, aren't I? I've got to make sure Max is safe."

Dean opened his mouth to argue, but Sam placed a hand on his chest, effectively stopping him. Sam raised his eyebrows, seeming to urge his brother to reconsider. Dean glared at him for a long while before giving in. "Freaking puppy dog eyes," he muttered.

"Okay fine, you can come along," Dean said grudgingly. He pointed a finger at Logan. "But, just try to stay out of trouble, okay? No saving-the-day crap."

"Okay," Logan nodded, sunlight glinting off of his glasses. "Deal."

"Good. Get in the car." The driver's side of the Impala slammed shut, the sound echoing the foul mood her owner was in.

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There was an extra-long wait at the sector border, which made them later than planned. When the big black car finally pulled up at the rundown factory, AC/DC pouring from her speakers, they found Max and Alec alighting from their motorcycles, apparently having gotten there just before them.

"So what's the plan?" Max asked, striding up to the fuming Dean.

"The plan is, missy," Dean said, up in her face, green eyes flashing, "that you do what I say, when I say it. You kids are soldiers, right? Well, think of me as your CO. You take your orders from me or Sam, got it?"

"I don't take orders from anybody," spat Max, while Alec spewed, "Who the hell gave you the right to boss us around like that?"

Sam pulled his brother aside angrily. "What the hell's gotten into you? You're acting like Dad."

Dean's eyes darkened. "Is that so bad? Following Dad's orders kept us out of trouble most of the time, didn't it?" he growled. Looking away from his brother, he sighed and rubbed his hand across his face, suddenly looking older than his 43 years in the afternoon light. "I just don't want to see those kids get hurt. This spirit is powerful enough to pop up anywhere it wants to. It'll be easier to do the job without having to worry about three other people who don't know what the hell they're doing."

Sam glanced at Logan, Max, and Alec, the latter two obviously listening in on their conversation with their keen sense of sound, and the Ordinary trying to figure out what they're saying. "The 'kids' are genetically enhanced and were trained by the military. They can take care of themselves. And I talked to Logan before about his exo. It gives him improved abilities in his legs, so he won't be completely in the way."

Dean took a long moment to think. Finally, he said, "Fine, but if anybody gets hurt..." He left the sentence incomplete, letting a look at Sam finish it for him. _"__…remember it wasn't my idea." _Moving back to the rest of the group, Dean announced, "Alright. Here's the plan. We go in, one group goes to find where Father Lawrence is, gets him out, the other group searches the place for whatever is keeping the spirit here. Any objections?"

Sullen silence. Then Alec spoke up. "Okay. Sounds like a plan," he said quietly, arms crossed and head up, his clear green gaze piercing resentment directly into Dean's now hazel eyes. "Sir."

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AN: Dean's in a bad mood this chap. Sorry he's so mean. I'll have him back to his snarky self in a bit. Promise. Sorry, too, for the short chapter. What, did you think I was going to tell you what Ben's connected to in this one? Wait for it. It's coming up soon.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Here's the next installment. Still angsty, not too much funny Dean or Alec, but we figure out what's keeping Ben here.

**Chapter 8**

Jimmy prayed feverishly for God to deliver him of this place. Crossing himself and opening his eyes, he looked around at the smelly 6x4 closet where he had woken up...yesterday? He knew at least a day had passed since he was knocked out in his confessional by a cold hand grasping his throat in a choking hold and slamming his head into the wooden screen, but he couldn't even venture to guess a more exact amount of how much time had actually passed. His stomach rumbled. Sighing, he hoped God was in a listening mood.

It was a bit ironic that Jimmy Lawrence, the son of a hunter, had been kidnapped by a ghost four years after he had run away the family business and sworn himself into priesthood.

Jimmy thumped his head against the wall he was sitting leaning up against, legs spread out away from his body. "Bet you're up there laughing at me right now, huh, Dad? Bet you're thinking that if I'd just lined the doors and windows with salt and put up the wards I wouldn't be in this position. Well, you know what? F—" He cut himself off right there.

No, he wouldn't break his vow by cussing. He groaned and banged his head back against the wall. How did all those prophets and everyone in the Bible manage to pray nonstop for days at a time? He'd only been in there for…two days?…and he was already bored and starving and on the verge of cussing his dead father out. Some priest he was.

Maybe that was the point the ghost was trying to make when it had shown up several hours before. It had said something about faith and the lady…and killing him. Well, Jimmy did believe in the Virgin Mary and he wouldn't give her up for anything, even if he had to die for her. He'd _prefer_ not to die a martyr, but his faith in her was unwavering.

Oh, and by the way, what was up with the ghost looking like a younger replica of Dean Winchester? That was just weird. He wondered if shapeshifters had ghosts. Maybe it was that shifter from St. Louis Dean had killed way back when.

Suddenly, he heard something. He stood up, hoping it wasn't the ghost returning for his execution. But no, it was the sound of talking, then a tap on the metal door.

A man's voice. "Jimmy? Are you in there?"

Jimmy raised his eyes to the crumbling ceiling. There is a God.

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_Earlier_

Dean managed to divide the five people into the two groups he'd mentioned in his plan with surprisingly little argument. Sam and Alec were to get Father Lawrence. Dean, Max, and Logan would try to find the object Ben's ghost was attached to. They armed themselves from the arsenal in the trunk of the Impala and headed inside.

The building was filled with shadows from the various crates and containers stacked in uneven piles. Weak sunlight filtered in from dust-choked windows, but it was enough to see by. Spray-painted on the walls in uneven black letters were the words "Mission," "Discipline," and "Duty."

Dean muttered under his breath. "Like I always say, demons I get, but people are just plain crazy."

Creeping forward on silent feet, the two groups parted and Sam and Alec headed towards the metal door barely visible in the far corner of the room.

Alec said quietly, "I've been here before. This is where I was when the ghost first showed up and I swung at him with a pipe." He pointed to a mirror standing against the wall. "Right there."

"Okay, good to know." Sam glanced around, looking for any sign of the spirit. "By the way, I'm sorry for the way Dean acted just now. He was just…He doesn't like showing his real emotions. He's actually really worried about—"

"Yeah, I know," Alec interrupted. "We kinda overheard. It wasn't the first time we've ever gotten ordered around like that in our lives or anything." He shrugged. "Still, you shouldn't have to apologize for him when he acts like a jerk."

Sam looked at him and huffed out a laugh. "If I apologized for every time he was a dick, I would spend the whole day talking to people, trying to calm them down. But really, he cares."

They had reached the door by this time and Sam raised his shotgun ready to shoot. He rapped his knuckles on the door. "Jimmy? Are you in there?"

"Yes," came the answer, muffled by the door. "Let me out already. He said he was gonna kill me and I would rather not be ghost chow."

Alec had got his lock pick out and at Sam's nod, stuck it in the lock. In a matter of seconds, the metal door creaked open and a dusty figure emerged.

"Sam. Thank God. And—" he stopped, eyes wide. "Oh Lord." He crossed himself. "Shapeshifter?" He turned to Sam.

"Nope. Clone. My name's Alec. Ghost boy's name is Ben. He was my psycho twin brother," Alec answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

Jimmy stared. "Oh. Okay. Let's get out of here then."

Suddenly, Ben flickered into sight in front of them. Sam managed to fire off one shot right before the ghost threw out an arm and the three men flew into the wall with a thundering crack. The apparition disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

"Oh, not again," groaned Alec, rubbing the back of his sore head. Glancing over at the other two, he saw that they were out cold and thanked Manticore for his genetically-engineered hard head. Hearing rapid footsteps nearing, he staggered to his feet. Dean soon appeared with the shotgun poised ready to shoot.

Alec waved his hand. "Whoa. It's just me. He knocked the others out." He groaned and leant over, putting his hands on his thighs to stretch his abused back. "Damn."

Dean threw Alec the gun and knelt down beside his brother. "Hey Sammy. No napping on the job," he said, tapping Sam's cheek. No response. He clenched his jaw. "That's it. That evil sonofabitch is goin' down."

Under different circumstances, Alec would have felt bad for Ben, because damn, Dean sounded downright scary just then. But after the whole trying to kill him _twice_ thing Ben had pulled, he was starting to develop a small grudge against his dead twin.

Suddenly, the air turned icy cold. Alec and Dean turned to where the others were. Standing in front of Max was a familiar figure, pale in the weak light. Dean grabbed Sam's saltgun and hurried to catch up with Alec who was already headed for Max at superhuman speed.

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Max searched among the small bundle of things that obviously had belonged to Ben in life. Besides the impressive collection of weapons, there was an army blanket, several changes of clothing, and a small battered tin box. Hesitantly, she reached a suddenly clammy hand out towards it and opened the lid. Inside were three gold pendants, each on its own chain. The embossed pictures on the medallions were the same as on the one she had found in the woods the day she saw Ben. Underneath them was a card, about the size of a playing card.

Max picked it up. It was worn from frequent handling and had a rip in the top left corner. The once bright blue and gold ink had faded. But all the same, she recognized it. It was the card the janitor had given the seizing Jack that night all those years ago, the card with the figure of the Catholic Virgin Mary on it. The Blue Lady. Ben's Blue Lady. He had kept it all those years. Max's breath stopped in her throat.

A voice spoke softly behind her. "Is that it?"

She turned to Logan with tears in her eyes. "Yes. This is what's keeping him here. The Blue Lady."

Suddenly, the temperature of the building dropped down to freezing. Ben's spirit flickered into appearance. His gaze was directed at Max. "Don't touch her. She's mine. You didn't believe in her."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alec blurring towards her from across the room and Dean amazingly keeping up right behind him. Suddenly, they stopped midstep, each letting out a grunt, as if an invisible force was holding them back as they struggled. Their guns flew out of their grips and skittered on the floor, coming to a stop against a pile of crates.

Max turned frantic eyes to her brother. "Ben. This card is what's keeping you here. I killed you because you wanted me to, because you asked me to, and because I didn't want you to suffer. You have to let go. You have to let her go."

A sudden collective gasp made her turn and glance around to see Logan, Alec, and Dean being forced to their knees by the same invisible force. Their heads were slowly and deliberately turned to the side further and further to the point of pain. A little more, Max knew, and their necks would snap like those of Ben's other victims.

"Ben stop! Stop! Please. Why are you doing this?" she pleaded, tears in her brown eyes. Ben had never been able to resist those eyes when they were children.

He just looked at her, eyes serious. "You know why. Why don't you understand? It's all for her."

Max looked down at the card in her hand and dug in her pocket with her other hand. "I'm letting you go, Ben. Go to the Good Place, to the Lady," she said, her voice hitching. With that, she flicked the lighter on and set flame to the little piece of pasteboard.

The ghost flickered, surprise passing over his face. Then his features softened. "I'm sorry, Maxie," he whispered. "I tried so hard. I-I'm sorry." His gaze shifted and he gasped. "She's so beautiful…" With a swoosh and a bright light, Ben's spirit disappeared.

Released from the ghost's vice-like grip, Dean rubbed his neck with one hand and grated out, "Well, that was way too chick-flicky for me."

Alec, also turning his neck and massaging it, said, "Kinda hafta agree with you there."

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AN: Kinda anticlimactic? I know, more action would have been nice, right? Oh well, at least Ben got to go to the Good Place.

Another _Dark Angel/Supernatural_ connection coming up next chapter, aside from the Ben-Alec-Dean thing. Can you guess what it is?

Whatever. Just leave me some nice, shiny reviews.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: This is a more upbeat chapter. Funniness and getting-along-ness return, along with the revealing of another _Dark Angel/Supernatural _connection.

**Chapter 9**

They helped Father Lawrence up the steps of his church, handing him over into the capable hands of a severely-dressed nun.

"Thanks guys. And nice to meet you Logan, Max, and Alec. Do you guys need a place to stay, Dean?" Jimmy was having a hard time keeping his eyes open and there was a nasty bump on the back of his head, but had refused to go to the hospital, saying he had spent enough of his life in them due to his previous job.

Dean shook his head. "Naw, we're all set. Keep an eye on that head, alright, Jimbo? If anything about it bothers you, you go straight to the hospital. And get something to eat and drink, but not too much at once, okay?" he said, hand on Jimmy's shoulder.

Sister Beatrice gave him a matronly smile. "Don't worry. I'll make sure he's alright. I'm used to patching Father Lawrence up, aren't I?" she asked, giving Jimmy a stern look.

"It's not my fault some people decide to come to confession drunk and swinging," the youthful priest grumbled.

Dean chuckled and said, "All right. Get him in bed, sister." At her disapproving look, he added "Not _that_ way, but you know what I mean."

Laughter evident in his voice, Sam told Jimmy Lawrence to keep safe and thanked the nun for taking care of the young man.

Descending the steps, Dean let out a sigh. "You know, I could really go for a drink right about now. That nun always scares the crap outta me."

Alec snickered. "Wow. The big, bad ghost hunter is afraid of a nun."

Dean looked affronted. "Oh, I don't know. I just get this vibe offa her, like she doesn't like me or something."

Max huffed and rolled her eyes. "Like that never happens," she said in her most sarcastic tone.

This stopped Dean in his tracks. He turned around to face the three younger members of the group and opened his mouth to speak but paused.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Dean lowered his eyes and looking very uncomfortable, cleared his throat before speaking. "I-uh. About earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. You didn't deserve it." He grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. "I just didn't want you going inside, you know, maybe getting hurt. But, uh, you ended up saving all our lives, Max. An' I guess I should probably thank you for that." His hands were in his jacket pockets now, shoulders tensed, ready for a refusal of his apology.

Max was taken aback. Of all things, she had not been expecting an apology and a thank-you from the jerk. "Oh. Um. You're welcome. Just don't order us around like that again."

"Yeah, or she'll kick your ass, right, Maxie?" Alec grinned and dodged the swat. "Hey, watch it. My neck's still sore from the little twisty thing Ben did to us."

Max made a face. "Stop whining, you big baby." She lashed out again and chased Alec to where their motorcycles were parked when he bolted.

Logan chuckled as he watched. "Why he keeps annoying her is beyond my comprehension."

Sam laughed. "Probably the same reason Dean does things on purpose that he knows gets on my nerves."

"Yeah, it's funny getting you all riled up like that," Dean retorted, getting in the car. "And just so you know," he said, pointing a finger at his younger sibling, "you do things that annoy me, too, on purpose. Like organizing _my_ trunk. God, that is so annoying. But personally, I think the kid does it because he's got the hots for her."

"Of course he does, he's her boyfriend," Logan said dryly.

Dean looked in the rearview mirror with surprise. "Oh. That explains it."

Logan had no time to ask what he meant before Sam spoke up from the front passenger seat. "Just because he's your clone doesn't mean he's a one-night-stand kind of guy, Dean."

Before the conversation could go any further, Max and Alec pulled up beside the Impala on their motorcycles. Alec leaned over to talk to Dean through the open window. "You still want that drink?" he asked.

Dean blinked. This kid was being pretty forgiving, considering. "Sure. You know a good place?"

"Yeah. A couple of our friends should be getting off work soon, so we could swing by and pick 'em up." Alec smirked. "You can buy, you know, to make up for that drill sergeant impression you pulled earlier."

Smiling wryly, Dean said, "Aww, I apologized, didn't I? Okay. Fine, I'm buying."

Alec laughed. "All right! Let's go then." He and Max took off with two identical rumbles.

Back in the car, Dean scratched his forehead. "Why is it that I have a bad feeling about this?"

Sam shook his head smiling. "Could it be that you just agreed to buy drinks for an unknown number of kids in their twenties?"

"Or it could be the fact that Transgenics can't get drunk," Logan put in smugly from the back seat.

Dean bit out a curse and proceeded to follow the two X5s with a rumble of his own.

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The sign on the much-graffitied building read, "JAM PONY BIKE MESSENGER SERVICE".

Getting out of the car, Sam scrunched his eyebrows together in thought. "Hey, isn't this where that whole Transgenic siege last year was?"

Max and Alec walked up. "'Course it is. Max and I used to work here, but our covers got blown."

Max scowled. "You mean _your_ cover got blown. Logan and I had to come to rescue your idiot ass."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Hey Sky," he greeted a short bald guy walking a bike out of the building with a backpack slung over his shoulders.

"Hey Alec! Max! Long time no see. Sorry guys, I'd love to stay and chat, but I gotta get this package over to sector nine pronto or Normal'll can by ass," Sky said with a furtive glance back. "See you around."

"Yeah, see ya, man." "Catch ya later, Sky." Max and Alec walked into the establishment, both in their own way looking like they owned the place. The Winchesters glanced at each other before shrugging and following them and Logan into the messenger service.

"Bip, bip, bip, you imbeciles. These packages are missing their mommies terribly." A fairly annoying voice drifted out the window from an inside room.

Alec grinned and strode up to the counter, hoisting himself up on the ledge. "Hey Normal. Didja miss me?"

Dean and Sam could now see a man in a dorky (in Dean's opinion) yellow polo shirt with short spiky blond hair and black-rimmed glasses standing behind the window. "Oh. Oh, this is wonderful. My Golden Boy is back."

Here, Dean mouthed "Golden Boy?" to Sam and got a smack in the arm in return.

"And Missy-miss, too. Oh, this is wonderful." Normal hurried through the door separating him from his unexpected visitors and shook Alec's hand, patting him on the arm with his free hand.

By this time, there was quite a crowd gathered around the two returning ex-bike messengers. Most prominent were a lanky young man with badly dyed hair and a blank yet happy expression, and a young black woman with an undeniably big attitude and hair to match it. Dean gulped as he hoped all these people weren't going to tag along. Because that would be a lot of drinks.

Sam had gotten a peculiar look when he'd heard Normal. And it became more pronounced when he was able to see him. Suddenly, he smiled, ducking his head and clearing his throat. "Reagan Ronald? You probably don't recognize me, but—"

Normal blinked at him, recognition dawning in his eyes. "Ha! Jiminy Cricket! Sam Winchester? Oh, this is a surprise. What have you been up to since Stanford?" His eyes landed on Dean and widened. Reagan "Normal" Ronald was struck speechless, a rare thing.

Sam tipped his head at Dean. "This is my brother, Dean. I've just been working with him since I left school, doing odd jobs here and there."

Normal's eyes had yet to leave Dean, making the latter a little uncomfortable, but his jaw came back up. "But how…" He tore his eyes away from Dean and he looked over at Alec, who was now watching this new development unfold with amusement.

"Dean here is probably my DNA donor. 'Cause apparently, all us Transgenics look like somebody out there," Alec said with a shrug. "Small world huh? I never knew you went to Stanford, Normal."

"No?" Normal's gaze went back to Dean. "I was working on my law degree when I met Sam. He was in his fourth year. I transferred to Harvard and then the Pulse messed everything up right when I was supposed to graduate and I ended up here, working with a bunch of reprobates. That reminds me, get moving, people," he clapped. "Bip, bip, bip. Get those packages delivered. No loitering during business hours." The crowd dispersed as bike messengers bid Max and Alec goodbye before riding out the door grumbling.

Max walked up. "So Normal. Alec and I are just gonna grab Cindy and Sketchy and blast. We're goin' to Crash and Dean here's buyin', so we gotta go."

"Well, it was good to see you all. It was wonderful seeing you again, Sam," Normal said, shaking his hand. "And nice to meet you, Dean." He looked the demon hunter over while shaking his hand as well. "You know, you are a beautiful man. Just like Golden Boy."

Dean froze. "Umm. Thank you?" he stuttered. Behind Normal's back, Alec, Max, and their two friends were rolling with silent laughter. Sam and Logan were also having trouble keeping their faces straight. "Heh. Right. I, uh, nice to meet you, too, Normal. Heh." He pulled his hand away and backed towards the door, wiping his hand on his jeans. "So what do you say we get goin', now, kids, huh? Yeah?" Dean scurried out as if he was being chased by stacks of gay porn.

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Dean was waiting outside when the rest walked out of Jam Pony still tittering over Dean's reaction to Normal. He grabbed Sam's arm. "Dude! What is up with your friend?" he sputtered. "He was, like, _ogling_ me."

Alec chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, that was probably partly my fault. I did a little cage fighting after I got out of Manticore and Normal was one of my biggest fans." He threw a couple punches in the air to demonstrate. "He used to creep me out, too, but I guess I kinda got used to it. The guy can't help liking the way I look and move and everything else about me," he said, preening.

Max got a mischievous look in her eyes. "Uh-huh. You know, Alec, we should tell Dean about Normal's gladiator fantasy," grinning when Alec's eyes widened in panic.

"No, no, no Max. Don't you dare. I'll never get over that one. I'm scarred for life," Alec shuddered.

Sam grinned, too. "Oh, I wanna hear this."

The black woman rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't. Once was enough to make Original Cindy feel sick. She wit' Pretty Boy on that one."

Dean put in his two cents. "Oh, I gotta agree," he said hurriedly. "I definitely do not want to hear about it. So why don't we get goin' to that bar 'cause now I _really_ need a drink."

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The dim bar wasn't crowded yet when the group filed down the stairs and sat down at a table in the back room. Dean stood up to fulfill his promise of buying the drinks. "Beers okay for everyone?"

"Just get a couple pitchers," said Max.

Cindy turned to her best friend. "So you wanna tell OC what's goin' on wit' the man yo boy's cloned from and his brotha who just happens to know Normal suddenly bein' in town, boo?"

Max grimaced. "It's a long story."

Sketchy grinned eagerly. "I've got all night and I bet Cindy does, too. So? C'mon, Alec. Buddy?"

"Fine." Alec shifted in his seat. He took a deep breath. "Do you believe in ghosts?" he asked with a serious look.

OC made a face. "What's that got to do wit' anything?"

"Yeah, what do ghosts have to do with it?" Sketchy asked.

Alec smiled mischievously. "We just came from a little ghost-bustin' outside of town."

Original Cindy raised one of her meticulously plucked brows. "Uh-huh. I don't believe it."

Sam chose this moment to break in. "Believe it. Dean and I have been hunting them our whole lives."

Sketchy looked at the older man eagerly. "Really? Ghosts are real?" You could practically see the wheels turning in his head evaluating Sam for a possible interview candidate.

Sam nodded. Gesturing with his hands as he talked, he explained, "Yeah. Vampires, werewolves, demons; they're all real. The Pulse? Gremlin. 9/11 attacks? Demonic possession. The _Titanic_? Wasn't really an iceberg. It was a group of sirens."

"Really?" Logan looked intrigued. He was starting to think a catalogue of the supernatural would be very useful to compile and wanted these guys' input on it.

"Telling tales outta school, Sammy?" Dean drawled, plopping the pitchers down on the table as he sat down.

Sam quirked his mouth in a smile and shrugged. "Dean, three of them already know and they're just gonna tell their friends, anyway. Might as well get it right."

"All right. Go ahead, geekboy." Dean said. And Sam did. He told what had happened, withholding the personal parts, such as the fact that Ben was Max's brother and Alec's twin. He had a feeling that the two Transgenics didn't want everyone to know the whole story.

"Wow. Ghosts are real," was Sketchy's sagacious response, once Sam finished telling his tale.

"Well, whaddayouknow. Three years ago, I wouldna believed my best boo was a genetically revved up female, and ten minutes ago, I didn't believe in ghosts," Cindy said, shaking her head and taking a drink from her glass.

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Claiming he was tired of losing to Alec's genetically enhanced skills, Sketchy challenged Dean to a game of pool. Poor Sketchy. He had no way of knowing that this was how Dean had earned his living for most of his life. Needless to say, Sketchy lost.

Dean patted his opponent on the shoulder. "Not bad, kid. Just practice a little more and you'll be playing like a pro." He fingered the bills Sketchy had handed over. "This oughta help pay for all the beer you kids are guzzling up. I swear, it's like you have these bottomless pits for stomachs."

"Did you just take advantage of that kid, Dean?" asked Sam, looking up from the paper on which he was writing out notes for Logan.

Dean put on an angelic expression. "Of course not, Sam. He wanted to play, so we played. Nothing wrong with that."

Sketchy interrupted. "Hey, can I interview you guys? I'm a reporter for _New World Weekly_. I bet they'd love a ghost hunter interview."

Dean grimaced and shook his head, "Well, we'd love to, but you know, being officially dead has its downsides, one of them being we gotta stay outta the news. Sorry kid. Love _New World Weekly_, though. Great articles."

"What do you mean, officially dead?" asked Cindy. "You don' look dead to me."

"Dean," Sam warned his brother not to say anymore.

"What?" Dean said, shrugging. "We've been reported dead so many times that I bet those government idiots don't know whether to bother chasing after us anymore. It's kinda funny."

"How many times have you been reported dead?" asked Alec.

"I dunno. Five for me and four for Sam, I guess. One more than Sam, anyway." Dean flashed an "I win" smile at Sam, who shook his head at his brother.

"You're such a freak, Dean," he said smiling.

"Oh, I'm a freak? You're the one with the weird friends," Dean retorted teasingly. "Jesus, Sammy, I get that you wanted the whole white picket fence, steady job, 2.5 kids deal, you know, 'normalcy,' when you went off to school, but a friend named 'Normal'? Damn, you musta been desperate."

Sam shrugged. "Oh, he isn't that bad. No one called him 'Normal' when I knew him, so I'm guessing that came later. But he did say 'bip' a lot. I can't believe he's still using it."

Original Cindy crossed her arms and drawled, "Well, believe it, sugah. Normal's bipped us all out."

"Why does he say it, anyway? I mean, what does it mean?" Sketchy asked.

Sam took a sip of his beer before he answered. "It's pretty simple. We were in line at the checkout at the library right before closing, and the people were moving kind of slow, so Normal started shouting, 'Bustle, you incompetent people, bustle.' He just kept saying it over and over again, and was kind of getting on my nerves, so I told him to shorten it to 'bip' to make it easier for everyone involved. I guess it stuck," he observed, chuckling. "Sorry."

"I was only around the guy for, like, five minutes and his 'bipping' already annoyed the hell outta me," Dean said. "I was ready to clobber the guy."

Alec smirked. "Really. All I saw was you hightailing it out of there as fast as you could after Normal came on to you."

It only took Dean ten seconds to join in laughing along with the rest of the group.

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AN: I always did wonder what "bip" meant. This is my explanation. I made it mean "Bustle Incompetent People." Not so good, I know, but can you think of a better one? Normal going to Stanford—was it lame? I read a fic once with him going to Yale or Harvard and came up with "what if Normal went to school with Sam?" And wasn't there an episode in Season 1 with him mentioning Harvard?


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Almost the last chapter. Thanks for sticking with me all this time. ~poestheblackcat

**Chapter 10**

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It was about a week later that Alec realized he hadn't seen Max around Terminal City for a few hours. This was a rare occurrence, since when she wasn't in her office at Headquarters, she was usually found running around trying to solve some problem or another, biting everyone else's head off in the process. After asking around and getting nothing on his CO's current whereabouts, he took off in the direction of the one place he could always be sure of finding her when she was nowhere else to be found.

He decided to walk to the Space Needle, as it was a warm afternoon and the sun was still out. He just wanted to make sure Max was okay, that she really was at the Needle, and not kidnapped by Familiars or anything like that. Just for his own peace of mind.

That was what Alec told himself, anyway. The truth was, he didn't really know how he felt about her. Well, he did; she was his friend and he had nothing but warm and fuzzy feelings about her. And then some. Alec shook his head. Uh-uh. Not going there. He was not going to think about her sassy attitude and the flush in her cheeks when she got mad at him and her big, brown, melted chocolate eyes that he could drown in and her lips, god, those—enough!

Maybe he should have let her name him "Dick". It seemed pretty appropriate now, anyway. Taking advantage of their friendship, even if it was only in his head. Alec groaned out loud, earning himself a few curious glances from the other people walking in the street.

As he climbed the stairs leading to the top of the Needle, he thought about what could have happened to make his friend suddenly decide to disappear like this. She often went places alone, claiming she needed some air, someplace quiet to think. But she always made it a point to tell someone that she was leaving, not just disappear out of the blue. Rules, you know. Max should know them best, having written up most of them.

But what was bothering her? Maybe the whole thing with having to gank Ben again and having to revisit those unpleasant memories got to her. She'd spent enough time running away from them, trying to forget them, and having to recount the story twice in as many days must have been tough on her. Alec sighed, emerging from the enclosure out into the open air.

Max was sitting on the edge of the dome just as Alec had expected, and tensed as she sensed him. "Go away Alec." Was it just him, or did she sound a little sniffly?

Alec sat down next to her, right in her personal space. "What's wrong?" he asked cheerfully, choosing to play the "idiot" she always called him.

She huffed and scooted away. The cooling breeze blew a few strands of loose hair into her face. "Nothing," she said, getting the hair in her mouth when she spoke. Grimacing, she pulled her hair back. She glared at Alec when he handed her a hair elastic. "What's this for?"

Alec smirked. "I know you're a tomboy, but don't you know a hair tie when you see one?"

Max scowled. "I know what it is. Why do you have one? Did one of your bimbos leave it in your pocket or something to remember her by?"

She watched as Alec flinched before regaining his composure and felt a little bad. Why _was _she always so mean to him? Max buried that thought as he turned his head to look at the view to his right, the side away from her. "I just noticed that you never seem to have one when you really need it. Your hair's always getting all over the place." He smirked, turning his green gaze back to Max. "Don't worry. You won't get lice or anything from it. It was still in its original packing before I put it in my pocket."

Still scowling, although not as much, Max grabbed the elastic and used it to tie back her unruly hair before the wind decided to frizz it up to rival OC's. "What are you doing here?" she asked, instantly regretting it the moment she said it. That would make him ask her why she was there.

Alec gave her an amused look thinly veiling his concern. "I could ask you the exact same thing," he replied. "I'm here because I was looking for you."

Max could avoid that one. "Why were you looking for me?" she said aloofly with a raised eyebrow.

He smiled. "Nice try, Max. I was looking for you because you kinda pulled a Houdini on me, and I don't like it when my friends disappear. Now, why are you here, Max? Thinking about something?"

At Max's sullen non-response, he went on gently, "Is this about Ben? Max, I'm not claiming to have ever known the guy, but I don't think he'd want you to be all sad and gloomy like this. Frankly, it's depressing for everyone else around you. Besides, I think he'd want you to live and be happy that you're alive. And I think he's at peace now, too. You saved him, again."

Max brought her feet closer to the rest of her body so that she could rest her chin on her knees. Giving a great sigh, she replied, "It's not about Ben. Well, it is, but not in the way you're thinking." At Alec's raised eyebrows, she continued. "I miss him. I miss Zack, and Tinga, and all the rest of my family. I just—" she sighed, "It's like I don't really know who I am without them, you know? Like I'm lost and no one can see the real me." Max gave a little laugh that sounded suspiciously like a sob. "You know, I've been trying to find my birth mother for years, since I got out, really, and you found the guy you were cloned from _and_ his brother without even trying. And you've only been out for two years. How fair is that?"

Alec listened without interrupting her, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed, just letting her talk. He thought for a moment, and smiled and bumped his left shoulder up against Max's right before he said, "You don't need to find your birth mother to find yourself, Max. I can't believe I'm going to say something this corny," Max snorted incredulously here, "but you gotta look inside yourself to find who you really are. Joshua, me, OC and Sketch; we're your friends, but we're all your family, too. Because we can all see the real you, even if you can't. You're beautiful and strong, Max, not just on the outside, but on the inside, too," Alec said, blushing a little. He continued earnestly, "Sure, I've got Dean and Sam now, and I guess they're family, but Max, family doesn't end with DNA. You taught me that. It is so much more. It's about—"

"I got it," Max interrupted him. She laughed a little. "Thanks."

"No problem," Alec said, nodding. "Thanks for stopping me, by the way. I coulda gone on for hours about the merits of family according to Max," he smirked.

"Shut up, you smartass." Max grinned as she whacked him softly on the back of the head. She felt loads better than before, when she was wallowing in self-pity and loneliness.

Alec feigned hurt, then beamed. His goal of getting Max out of her funks, his self-appointed job of late, had been attained.

The pair sat there in the comfortable silence until the sun went down and the air cooled. Alec shivered slightly in his short-sleeved t-shirt. "I'm gonna head back, Max. You coming?" he asked, standing.

Max replied, not letting her eyes leave the city below. "No. I'll be down later." Dragging her gaze from the view to look up at her friend, she gave a rare genuine smile. "Thanks for coming to talk to me, Alec."

Alec smiled back. "Anytime, Maxie," he said, and wobbled. Whoa. What was that?

Max was up in an instant. "Alec? You okay?" She seemed worried, and with good reason. Transgenics rarely tripped or _wobbled _unless there was something wrong with them or distracting them.

Alec waved her off, climbing back into the Needle. "I'm fine, Max," he said, his voice gruff. "I'm just a little tired, you know, from doing _your_ job today." He grinned, letting her know he was only teasing.

Max pursed her lips. "Okay," she said after an eternity. "Get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Yeah. See ya." Alec hurried away from her concerned gaze as fast as he could. Descending the stairs, he realized that his hands were shaking. Crap. He'd taken his daily dose of tryptophan that morning, but sometimes it wasn't enough and he ended up with the shakes for a few hours. He was due for a big one, too, and Joshua just happened to be away in Los Angeles at an art convention with Rita, his art dealer, for the week.

The Transhumans didn't have a tryptophan deficiency like the X5s, and Joshua had been extremely worried the first time Alec had had a seizure when he was staying at his house after the whole Ben identity mix-up with the police. He'd ended up staying by Alec the whole time, and still did whenever the younger man had them in their shared apartment at TC.

Alec trudged home for a long and painful night alone and hoped he got there in time before they got too bad for him to walk.

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Back at Logan's, Sam and Logan were happily tapping away at the keyboard. They were making a supernatural database and Sam had all of the Winchester hunting journals as references. John Winchester's original leather journal had long since been filled from cover to cover, so the brothers had finally decided to shell out some money for a new one, and when that one had been filled up with news clippings and notes from their numerous cases, they had invested in yet another one, and so on.

Over the years, Sam had thought of making a database himself, transcribing all of their notes, but the pair had never stopped long enough for him to be able to make a decent start. Now, Dean had agreed to stick around for a few more days while Logan and Sam were eagerly reading the cramped and sometimes faded writing and typing it into the program. Even though Sam trusted Logan to keep this database secure, he did take the precaution to omit the names and other information of their hunting contacts.

Meanwhile, Dean had gone over and cleaned every weapon in the trunk. Twice. He'd melted down and molded all the silver into bullets, blessed gallons of holy water, cleaned out the back seat of his car, and done all the laundry. Now, sprawled on Logan's beige leather couch watching nighttime reruns of horrible daytime television, he was bored. And everyone knows a bored Dean is a bad thing to have around the house.

"_Oh, Eric. Thank you so much for convincing Roman to agree to the wedding. You're the best brother a girl could ask for."_ The blonde chick on the TV screen, Sami, hugged the guy with the pretty-boy hair. Dean stared at the television and snorted. Dude. Seriously? He dug for the remote and stood up, heaving an enormous sigh. "I'm goin' out."

Sam's head shot up. "Where're you going?" he asked, his brows forming an upside-down "V" shape.

"Out," Dean tossed over his shoulder, as he strode out.

"What do you mean, 'Out'? Dean, come back." Sam huffed, seeing his brother was not slowing down. "Fine, I'm going with you."

Dean turned, exasperated. "No, you're not, Sammy. Go back to your geek business with Logan."

Seeing that Sam was still frowning, he said, "I need a drink, you know, get out, do something. Or someone. I'll be back in a few hours. Unless I find something fun to do," he grinned wolfishly, wriggling his eyebrows.

Sam groaned and shook his head. "Okay then. Just make sure you call if you do stay out all night."

"Yes, _Mom,_" Dean smirked, taking the wooden porch steps two at a time and sliding into his baby. No, if he was going to get completely sloshed, like he thoroughly intended to, he probably shouldn't take his car. Something might happen to her. Patting her steering wheel, Dean got back out and started walking down the street to find a bar.

He changed his course when he heard "Take that, ya freak!" and "Yeah, serves you right, Trannie trash." coming from a nearby alley ten minutes later.

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AN: Dun-dun-duuuun. Ooh, who's in trouble?

Anybody catch the "Family don't end in blood" _Supernatural_ reference in Alec's speech to Max? :D And the_ Days of Our Lives_ (which Jensen Ackles was in) reference? Thank you soapcentral. com for the recaps page because I have never seen the show.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: la physocologue's requested Alec seizure scene right here. ;D Lots and lots of sick!Alec and protective!Dean. You know you love it.

**Chapter 11**

Alec walked down the street, too preoccupied with the tremors shaking his body to notice that he was being tailed. It was too late when he turned around at the sound of footsteps coming after him as a bat swung into his face and another into his side.

Alec grunted, falling back but catching himself with his enhanced reflexes. He was dazed for a moment, long enough for the bats to swing back again.

"Take that, ya freak!" "Yeah, serves you right, Trannie trash." How many of them were there? Two? Three? Damn, the guy who had aimed at his head must have been a baseball player in another life or something.

This time Alec caught both bats and twisted them away from his head and body but missed the metal bar coming at him from behind. It connected with a sickening thud and he fell face-down on the wet sidewalk. The blows rained down, harder and harder, and he tried to lash out, hit someone, but as they kept swinging, he ended up curling his body and protecting his head to minimize the damage. He wondered as his vision faded and stars danced in front of his eyes if this was how his buddy Biggs had died.

Suddenly, the hits stopped, and out of the haze he heard the low rumble of a familiar voice. "You really think you're something, huh? Ganging up on an unarmed guy like that. Think you're all manly and everything? Huh?"

"He's a Trannie. We're just doin' our duty as citizens of this city." The guy's voice sounded smushed, strangled. Alec opened his eyes, the cut above the left one starting to bleed, to find that his savior had knocked out two of his attackers and was crouched over the third, pushing his ugly (or so Alec assumed) face into the ground.

"Yeah, well news flash. He's a person, Transgenic or not, same as you and me, got that?" Man, Dean sounded mad. Wait a minute. What was he doing here?

"Go to hell, ya Trannie-lover." Alec had to give the guy this, he had some nerve. Or maybe he was just plain stupid. Even Alec was a little scared and he wasn't the one the threats were being directed at. One thing he had learned about Dean in the short time he'd known him was that he was one guy never to get on the bad side of.

Dean gave a bitter laugh. "Been there. Done that. Trust me, I wouldn't recommend it for a vacation spot." He bent down so that his lips were close to the guy's ear. His voice hardened, got colder, lower. "Now listen and listen carefully 'cause I'm only gonna say this once. If I ever hear about you or your friends messing with one more Transgenic, I promise you, I will hunt you down. And when I do, you'll be sorry you were even born. You'll be sorry your _parents_ were born. I never go back on my word." Alec shuddered. Oh yeah, Dean Winchester could be one scary sonofabitch when he wanted to be. "Now get outta here before I kill ya," he growled as he straightened.

Needless to say, the "Trannie-hater" scampered off as soon as Dean let him go. As well as several broken face bones and bruised ribs would let him, anyway. Casting a cursory glance at the other two guys still sprawled unconscious in the street, Alec made his painful way to his feet. Oh yeah, that's gonna bruise. So not a good combination with his seizures. A strong hand gripped his shoulder.

"You okay, kid?" There wasn't a trace of anger left in Dean's voice, just concern. A glance at his face corroborated what Alec had heard.

Alec attempted a smirk and was relieved to find that it wasn't too shaky. "I'm just peachy. What are you doing here?"

Dean let the lie slide. "Rescuing your damsel in distress ass, that's what," he grinned.

Alec stumbled but regained his balance and continued on his way, Dean following closely to make sure he didn't keel over. "What is it with you and Max and my ass? Now I don't mind Maxie ogling it, 'cause she's hot, but it's just wrong if you do it. And by the way, I am not unarmed. I didn't wanna pull out my gun 'cause I mighta hurt someone."

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, of course. Because you were just afraid of hurting those guys when they were trying their goddamn best to bash your head in."

Alec smiled a shit-eating grin, holding his arm against his injured ribs. "Exactly. Glad you see it my way. And again, were you following me?"

Dean shook his head. "Naw, I was on my way to get a drink or five. Where were you headed?"

"Home." Alec looked down at himself. Crap. Probably literally, knowing the sort of stuff found dumped in the streets of Seattle. "Good thing, too. I need to get outta these clothes. I stink."

"Great. I'll walk you there," Dean declared with a nod.

Alec threw the older man a look. "I don't need a babysitter, and anyway, I thought you wanted a drink."

Dean smirked. "I can get one at your place. Free, and it'll be quieter there, too. Besides, I don't want you to get jumped again on the way home. You can barely walk."

Alec rolled his eyes. And winced. Ouch, bad idea. "Right. And here I was thinking that you cared."

Dean paused, a softer look flashing in his eyes before he teased, "Well that, too, but you've been getting knocked around so much lately that I've decided you need constant supervision. Don't want you losing any more brain cells than necessary, now, do we?"

"Ha ha. How did those guys know I'm a Transgenic, anyway?" Alec grumbled.

"Well, I'm not Einstein, but I think it may have something with that barcode tattooed on the back of your neck, for starters," Dean said with a smirk, worry not quite hidden behind it.

"My—" Alec brought his shaking hand up to the neckline of his black t-shirt where his collar should have been covering the black outlines, to find that he was touching bare skin. "Dammit. I musta left my jacket at home. It wasn't cold when I left."

Dean gave him a searching look, taking in the bruises starting to form on the young face and the now-muddy clothes on the trembling frame. Poor kid looked downright miserable. Sighing, he took his leather jacket off and handed it to Alec. "Here, cover up that barcode."

Alec blinked for a second before taking it and shrugging it on. He popped up the collar. "Thanks." It was warm and fit him pretty well, a little on the big side, but that was to be expected, seeing that it was a bit loose on Dean. It smelled of gun oil and leather, obviously, and another smell Alec identified as _Dean, _and it comforted him. Alec looked up to catch a peculiar expression in his original's eyes.

"It used to be my Dad's, you know? He was gonna to throw it out after it got all bloody and messed up after a hunt. I cleaned it up and kept it." Dean flashed a smile at Alec. "It looks good on you."

They walked in silence for a while, Dean catching Alec when he pitched to the side, but the younger man's legs collapsed. Dean gently lowered him to a sitting position.

"Whoa there, Alec. What's going on with you? You're shaking all over the place and I know it's not from the cold." Damn, the kid really didn't look good. Dean wondered if he should call Max or Logan.

"S-seizures." Oh god, his head hurt, like a million hammers were knocking at his skull. From the inside. Alec bit down on his lip to keep from uttering the moan that was threatening to come out.

Dean was full on worried now. "I can see that. You get them often, or are they from that knock on the head you got?" he asked, brows knitting in concern.

"D-downsides of b-bein' m-made in a t-test t-tube. D-damn s-scientists messed up w-when they p-put m-me to-together. W-wires in m-my h-head got crossed or s-somethin'," Alec chattered. "G-got s-stuff f-for it at h-home."

"C'mon. Let's get you home then," Dean muttered, as the younger man's eyes fluttered closed and his head lolled. He hauled him up on his feet and draped the trembling arm around his shoulders. "Good thing we're the same size, kiddo. I've done enough of hauling Sam's humongous ass around to last me a lifetime."

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Dean gazed at the sleeping form, lips pursed in thought. Sam wouldn't be worried that Dean didn't make it back for the night; he'd called to tell him he'd be spending the night at someone else's place. Okay, it was usually a female someone else, but what Sammy didn't know…anyway, Dean had promised to keep this whole thing under wraps.

Alec moaned and shifted on the bed. Dean instinctively put out his hand to gently brush away the hair that stuck to the kid's forehead slick with sweat. Alec sighed and settled at the surprisingly soft touch. He looked so young, lying there, eyelashes and the cut over his eye standing out darkly against his pale skin. Dean wondered if he himself had ever looked that vulnerable. Yeah, probably, even though he hated the thought of it.

Alec, he knew, didn't like being this weak, especially with someone else around to see it. After Dean had helped him into Terminal City, past the sentries, assured the gun-wielding panther-man and shark-headed girl (okay, exaggeration, but she still looked…fishy and toothy) that he was _helping_ Alec ("He's fine, just need to get him to his place."), and half-carried him to the apartment, the X5 had turned to Dean, handed him the leather jacket, and said, "Thanks, I'll be okay now." It would have been pretty believable, too, if a seizure hadn't chosen right then to come on. Alec had crumbled and started to shake. Really bad.

Trying to hold down the flailing arms and legs wasn't a good idea, Dean found. The bruised eye and bloody lip he sported was evidence of that. The shaking lessened and Alec managed to gasp out, "T-trypto…T-tryptophan," before letting out a sharp pain-filled cry and it all started up again.

Dean let go of the Transgenic and leaned back in confusion. What the hell did "tryptophan" mean? He shot up as the answer hit him. Medication. The kid was talking about his medication. He ran to the bathroom and threw open the medicine cabinet. Shaving cream, razor, toothpaste, pain pills. Huh, those were horse tranquilizers. Never mind. Finally in a small plastic container, "TRYPTOPHAN," prescribed to a Dick Grayson.

Dean grabbed it and ran back to the still violently seizing form. He shook the pills out and—damn. He rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass. Filling it with tap water, he hurried back to Alec.

He couldn't get near him for while, but once the shaking stopped enough, Dean held on to Alec's head and forced his mouth open so he could pop in the pills and pour in a little water after them to make them go down easier. He was grateful when Alec managed to swallow, choking a little, but getting the white capsules down. Now all Dean had to do was wait. He hoped he'd gotten the right dosage.

The pills barely had time to work before the next seizure started. It was not as powerful as the last one, but Alec's eyes still rolled back in his head and a muffled whimper escaped from his pale lips. Dean was still holding onto his head to keep it from banging into the floor with each shake. The kid belonged in bed.

Carrying the X5 would have been much easier if he didn't keep slipping out of Dean's grasp, but then, no such luck. After nearly dropping him several times, Dean finally heaved him onto the bed. Which immediately began to shake along with the seizing body on it.

Hearing the uneven gasps coming from the shuddering figure curled up on his side, Dean wondered again if he should call someone. His attention was grabbed by Alec mumbling something through his shaking lips.

Dean leaned down. "What is it? Do you want something?"

Green slits focused on Dean before closing again. "D-don't call a-anyone." He gasped. "'Specially n-not M-max. D-don't want 'er s-seeing me l-like this."

The shaking had lessened by now, Alec's body only giving a few jerks every few seconds. Dean sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hand gently on Alec's shoulder. "Okay. I won't."

Alec gritted his teeth in obvious pain. "P-promise?" He sounded like a little kid. Like Sam when he'd been younger.

Dean melted. "I promise." He grabbed the bottle of pills and propped Alec up again. "Here. Take these. They're tryptophan. That's what you said to give you, right?"

"Mmmm," was the only response Alec gave as he drifted off to sleep after swallowing the pills shoved into his mouth, a warm hand rubbing circles on his back.

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It was late in the morning when Alec awoke. He was in his bed with no memory of how he got there. He felt a presence in the room and shot straight up to confront the invader. He soon regretted the action as the pain shot into his head, and he fell back into the bed with a groan. He hoped whoever it was would just hurry up and kill him. Anything was better than the blender chopping his brain up into itty bitty pieces.

He felt the mattress dip. "How're you feeling?" A deep voice. Dean. The events of last night were a little fuzzy, but Dean featured prominently in what he could remember of it. Seizures. Shit.

"I think I know what a hangover feels like. Never had a real one, but I heard it sucks," Alec moaned into his pillow.

The older man chuckled softly. "I've had my fair share of 'em. They do suck. Don't worry, it'll get better. Need help getting to the bathroom?"

Alec turned his head to glare at Dean. "No. I can get there on my own, thank you very much."

Dean got up. "Sure thing, Robin. Just no 'holy' anything jokes."

Alec just stared. "What?"

Dean was taken aback. "Aww, come on. Robin? Batman?" He got only a blank look in reply.

He shook his head in disbelief. "You have no clue what I'm talking about. Batman is only the coolest superhero ever and Robin is his sidekick. Dude, the name on your prescription says 'Dick Grayson'." At Alec's raised eyebrow and continued silence, he continued, "Robin's alter-ego?"

Alec shrugged, slowly pushing himself to a sitting position. "'Dick' was just the name Max was gonna call me, after 'Alec'."

Dean blinked. "Max named you?"

"Yeah. All I had was a designation before. X5-494." Alec swung his legs over the side of the bed and mustered up the energy to stand up. "We were breeding partners back at Manticore, you know, 'cause the DNA bank had been blown up a while back, by Max and her little buddies, by the way. So it's all her fault. I walked into her cell and told her our orders were to 'copulate.' Next thing I knew, she'd kicked me against the wall and told me that that was the only physical contact we were going to have."

Dean huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, she's a real feisty one. You two are together now, though, right?"

Alec made his way to the bathroom. "Nah, that's just for show. She and Logan have this virus thing going where if they touch Logan dies. So I'm the new boyfriend to make Logan think she's moved on so she can't hurt him."

Pursing his lips and raising his eyebrows, Dean said, "But you do get special privileges because you're doing her a favor, don't you?"

Alec gave a dry smile and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. She hits me less."

Dean gave a disbelieving laugh. "Dude, you're so pussy-whipped," he said, shaking his head.

Alec made a face. "Am not." He glanced down, noticing for the first time that he was wearing only his boxers. Cheeks turning red as he snapped his head up to look at the older man, he exclaimed, "Did you—?"

Dean straightened. "Well of course I did," he bit out. "What, didja think you had a girl over last night or something? Your clothes were all wet and muddy, and may I remind you, you have absolutely nothing that I haven't seen. I just had a whole lot more scars at your age."

His mouth twitched with suppressed mirth as his younger carbon copy turned away muttering something about the new and improved version being way sexier. "Yeah, you just keep tellin' yourself that, kid."

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Dean fixed the two of them something to eat, and Alec managed to keep a few mouthfuls down. Dean ate enough for the two of them, though.

"So anyway," Dean started, "why did Max call you 'Alec'? You never finished your story. I get the 'Dick' comment, but why—"

"She called me 'Alec' 'cause I'm such a smart-aleck." Alec said. "She was trying to get on my nerves by giving me a name when I told her I didn't need one."

"Guess you got more than your looks from me. Suits you. Better than 'Dick', anyway. That's a terrible name." Dean smirked.

Alec gave an identical smirk. "You think that's bad? I got off lucky. You should hear the names she gave to some of the others. Bullet, Zero, Fixit, Bugler. Jeez. Gotta say, though, this girl ending up named 'Ralph' was totally my fault. She really hated the sight of blood."

Chuckling, the two of them fell into companionable silence. Alec sipped at his milk thoughtfully. Before Manticore burned down, he was used to spending his seizures being poked and prodded at by scientists. Once he got out he'd only ever had Joshua stand watch over him all through the night, but it was just his luck that his friend hadn't been around last night. Only to Joshua did he ever show physical vulnerability. He wasn't sure how he felt about letting Dean see it.

Dean's voice burst in on his thoughts. "You're pretty quiet. What's up? Head still hurting?"

Alec shook his head. "Not so much anymore." He sighed and cleared his throat. "Thanks for, you know, last night. Rescuing me from the evil Transgenic-haters. Staying with me and everything," he said with some embarrassment. He glanced up at the other man to see his response.

Dean kept his eyes on his mug as he took a sip of hot coffee out of it. He looked embarrassed, too. "No problem. Couldn't leave you alone now, could I?" He met Alec's eyes with a warm smile, the skin around his eyes crinkling up. "Like I said, you need someone to watch out for you, make sure you're okay."

Alec smiled back, somewhat bashfully. His mind went back to what he'd heard Dean say to that guy. "Last night, when you said you've been to hell, was that true? Is there really a hell?" he asked softly.

Dean tensed and was silent for a long time. Alec was starting to regret ever opening his mouth when the older man spoke again, his voice rough. "Yeah. It's real alright. Fire, pain, torture, and all the other crap they say about hell. Spent four months down there, but it felt like forever."

"What'd you do? Why were you there? Don't you have to _die _to go there?" It was a touchy subject, Alec knew, but darn it, he was a cat after all, and you know what they say about cats and curiosity.

Silence again. Then, so quietly Alec almost had to use the advantages of his Transgenic hearing to catch it, "I sold my soul to a demon to save Sam." Dean paused before continuing. "He was killed. He'd died in my arms and I didn't know what to do, I couldn't go on. He's my little brother, you know? The only family I had left. I practically raised the kid. So I traded my soul for his life. Got a year out of the deal. Had my year, got ripped to pieces by hungry hungry hellhounds, and went to hell. Not the best way to die. Wouldn't recommend it." He swallowed another mouthful of the bitter coffee.

Alec frowned. Dean had died? "But you got out, though, didn't you? I mean, you're here now."

"Yeah," Dean said, with a distant look in his eyes and looking years older than he really was. "I woke up in a pine box, with no memory of the last four months and no idea how I got out of hell."

Alec looked back down at his now-empty glass and frowned. "Was it Sam?"

Dean sighed. "No." Turning to the X5 with world-weary eyes, he continued softly, "Listen, son. You don't wanna know, alright? The truth—it ain't pretty. Just trust me. You don't wanna know."

Alec swallowed and nodded. "Okay."

"Okay." Dean nodded, too, satisfied that the younger man understood what he was trying to say. He smiled a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and looked more like a grimace. "So the lesson of that story is 'what's dead should stay dead.' You gotta remember that one, kid. You've got a long family history of sacrificing your own life for the people you love."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he added, "But you know what? I don't regret the choice I made. The world got screwed up for a while because of what I did, but Sam's alive and well, and that's all I really care about in the long run. Keeping my family safe," he said, glancing at the younger man. _'Got that?'_

Alec didn't ask the questions that came into his mind just then. Instead, he thought about who he'd give up his life for. He would have for Rachel. He already had for Max by not killing her and taking her barcode and would again in a heartbeat. He would for Joshua. He had a feeling he would for Dean now, too. Because, well, family's family. Crap. He really was a true Winchester. He was screwed, but somehow, he didn't really mind. His family would help him through it, watch out for him. Keep him safe.

DASPNDASPNDASPNDASPNDASPNDASPNDASPNDASPN

AN: My way of saying that I have no idea how Dean got out of hell, because season 4 hasn't aired yet! I can't wait!

The end? I promised some people a prequel. Logan's cursed watch story. Would you read it? And a sequel. Why Alec and Ben were cloned from Dean. Darn it. I'm gonna be busy.

Actually, here's a little preview of "Snake Demon" which is supposed to be the sequel to this story. Let me know what you think.

"_Oh hell, no."_

_Alec stared at his reflection with something akin to disbelief. Now normally, he would take a cursory glance at himself in the cracked bathroom mirror just before his morning shower, but today, his vision was zeroed in on the line of tiny black symbols curving across his chest. And scrolling over his right ribs. His eyes moved upwards to take in the tattoos appearing on his left shoulder. He turned around and craned his neck to see—_

"_What the—Oh come on!" Alec exclaimed. His back was covered with the same black writing that was on his front._

_Joshua's slightly concerned voice came from just outside the bathroom door. "Alec okay?"_

_Frowning, Alec replied, "Yeah, just peachy. I'm breaking out in Ancient Minoan runes faster than you can say 'laser me'." He opened the door. "This sucks."_

_Joshua took in the markings covering his friend's torso. "Writing. Like Max."_

_Alec pouted. "Exactly. Except when it was happening to her, it was funnier. And hers took longer to show up. What's with this speed-tattooing, huh?" he said, looking down. "These definitely were not here last night." He scrunched his nose as he poked angrily at one of the marks._

_Joshua cocked his head to the side to think. "Need to tell Max and Logan. Logan can find out what they say."_

"_Yeah. Okay." Alec sighed. "Well, I'm heading back in to take a shower first." He closed the door._

_As he turned away, Joshua heard the water turn on. Half a minute later, he winced at Alec's disbelieving exclamation, "What the hell! They're all over the place!" _

Well? Should I keep going?

12/10/08: I forgot to mention that the first chapter of "Snake Demon" is now up. If you like this preview, then go read the rest of it, please.


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